May 22, 2011

Shrimp Scampi

Like most Americans, I prefer my shrimp breaded, deep-fried, with cocktail sauce on the side. 

(And why does this always taste so good at 12:30a.m. while you're in a bar playing pool??  I guess we'll never know.  What?  I don't do that.)

But we don't really fry food around here.  Any food you can fry at home will usually taste better in a restaurant anyway.  We bake everything, even french fries.  So I tried to come up with a healthy use for the 2 bags of shrimp that somehow ended up in our freezer. 

Grilling would be amazing, but Scott wasn't home to start the charcoal grill (you caught me.  i don't know how.) and it was awfully windy out yesterday (We're currently under a red flag fire warning).  So I decided to try some scampi.

This is something that I probably wouldn't make too often because a lot of butter scares me.  Shrimp is just too healthy to play with all that much.  But it fit the bill and was worth trying because I had all of the ingredients in the fridge. 

Shrimp Scampi

1/3 of a stick of butter
1 T. olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, grated
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
20-30 medium shrimp, uncooked, de-shelled and de-veined ("still gray")
1/2 cup white wine (I actually used a Riesling because I only drink the sweet stuff.)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 t. lemon zest
Parsley (2 T. fresh or 1 t. dried)
Salt and pepper

Cooked and drained angel hair pasta
Crusty Italian or French bread

In a large saute pan with high sides, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium/low heat.  Add the onion and let it soften.  Then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add the shrimp and cook for 3 more minutes.  Keep the heat kind of low or the garlic will burn.  Add wine, lemon juice, and some salt and pepper (I don't measure salt and pepper.  Just a few shakes of each.).  Let it cook together until the alcohol-y smell is gone and the shrimp are completely cooked.  Toss the cooked and drained pasta into the pan and mix it all together to heat through.  Garnish with lemon zest and parsley.  Serve with bread. 

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