Shrimp Scampi Memories
I remember the first time I’ve ever made Shrimp Scampi was for my 22nd birthday celebration that I had with
Kym, Dave, and Nam. It’s a fond memory of mine. The four of us took our ingredients and went downstairs to this community kitchen, Kym’s dorm had. I don’t know where I put my copy of the recipe but I do remember we dredged our shrimp in flour and that there was white wine in the sauce. It was super delicious and I used that same recipe twice more. The last time over 3 years ago was for my family and I forgot to cook the wine through. Consequently, it tasted like ass and my brother got drunk. Heeeee.
Anyway, I lost that recipe and the most recent time I’ve made shrimp scampi was a super easy no flour no wine recipe, I found on foodnetwork.com via Barefoot Contessa and I made it maybe two years ago when Alan and I were still roommates. I recently made Alan and me shrimp tempura (I used a tempura mix) maybe last week and I remembered I still have half a pound leftover of shrimp in my freezer. The Barefoot Contessa recipe came to mind and was appealing because it’s super low maintenance, fast, and easy. I still had parsley from the Chicken Scarpariello I made 5 days prior so I had all the ingredients lying around and no trip to the supermarket was needed! This was dinner Sunday night for Brandi and me.
How do you keep parsley fresh?
I googled how to keep parsley fresh. I usually end up having to throw fresh parsley out because they wilt almost instantly in the fridge. Apparently, you store them similar to how you would flowers! You cut the bottoms off the stems, put them in a water vase, wrap the bunch with a paper towel to soak up extra moisture and then you loosely tie a plastic bag around the vase. I tried this technique 5 days before and the parsley was still fresh! Neat.
Barefoot Contessa’s Shrimp Scampi and Linguine
Onwards to the recipe and pictures :) So easy. I used wholegrain linguine and scaled back the recipe a little as I only had 1/2 a pound of shrimp vs. 3/4 pound.
This recipe serves 3.
Sauteing the shrimp
Tossing the linguine with the sauce and lemon zest
Voila, and serve!
Ingredients
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
Directions
Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.
Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.
When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.
Linda | 
01 10th, 2010| 
Texas native. Living and working in Austin, TX. Twenty something. In hot pursuit of good food, adventure, and laughter. Dreams of owning her own place with a big giant library.
