If you like shrimp, garlic, butter, pasta and wine, then April 29th is the day for you! April 29th is National Shrimp Scampi day which means that you have a great excuse to indulge in this spectacularly, off the charts, bowl of deliciousness. Don’t let the looks fool you! This is one of the easiest things to prepare plus it is a known crowd pleaser. So don’t be shy– invite your friends and make it a party!
Just for kicks, here are a few shrimpy morsels of trivia to get things started.
- Americans eat over a billion pounds of shrimp every year.
- At this time, there are almost 130 different species of shrimp.
- Shrimp can be as small as 1/2-inch and as long as 12-inches.
- The UK versions of Shrimp Scampi are made with battered Norway lobster deep-fried.
- The Italian version of this recipe are served with black pepper and linguine.
Spicy Shrimp Scampi
This can be a little spicy, but you can tame it down by backing off on the red pepper flakes and garlic.
Ingredients
- 1 lb thin spaghetti or other long pasta
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3-5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb medium to large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 cup dry white wine
- juice of two lemons and zest of one lemon
- ½-1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes to taste
- 2 tbsp good extra-virgin olive oil see note below
- 1 tbsp capers drained, may substitute green olives
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- fresh parsley
- grated Parmesan Reggiano
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. (Water should taste salty as the ocean). Undercook the pasta so that it is still slightly chewy. Drain and put pasta in a bowl, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.
- While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a large skillet, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add shrimp, lemon juice, lemon zest, wine, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook until shrimp are pink, approximately 3 minutes."Fish out" the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.Add ½ cup of reserved pasta water to the skillet and reduce until the sauce begins to thicken slightly, adding additional pasta water as needed to achieve a silky consistency.Add spaghetti to the skillet and cook until the pasta is al dente.Add shrimp to the spaghetti to warm through. Transfer to the serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh parsley, capers and Parmesan Reggiano.
Notes
Add another layer of flavor by using lemon, rosemary or chili infused olive oil.
Have An Entertaining Day!
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