Shrimp Scampi Recipe
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This easy shrimp scampi recipe is a classic Italian-American dish.
The shrimp are large.
'Scampi' is the Italian name for what are otherwise known as langoustines or Dublin Bay Prawns and they are small lobster like shellfish.
The Italians call shrimp 'gamberetto' and 'scampi' is normally just the menu name for the langoustine. In America, it will often be served over hot pasta or rice. When the Italian chefs began to adapt their recipes in America, they could not get the langoustine easily as they're not typically found in the seas around the US. Consequently, they used the largest shrimp and called the dish 'shrimp scampi' so that the Italian Americans understood what they were getting.
They are most frequently cooked in garlic, wine and butter, sprinkled with herbs and lemon, then mixed into the pasta. However, if you were to travel to Italy, you may very well get a dish of scampi in just the butter sauce and some crusty bread to mop up the juices - you might not get pasta unless you asked for it to be served that way - this link goes to an article which shows peoples' surprise at it being served without pasta!
The shrimp scampi will take just a few minutes to cook, so make sure the pasta is ready.
A good tip to making sure everything is ready at the same time, is to pre-cook your pasta if you are using dried. If you use fresh, it is not so critical as that typically takes two minutes to cook.
I frequently cook dried pasta for two minutes less than required, then drain it. When I am nearly ready to serve, I have a pan of boiling water ready on the stove top, then I drop the pasta into the water for two minutes. It heats through and will be piping hot and ready to serve. Drain it thoroughly before putting it into the serving dishes and adding your sauce. You can pre-cook pasta a day or two ahead and store it in airtight containers in the fridge.
For the best shrimp scampi recipe, linguine is the choice of pasta - the ribbons have a larger surface area to absorb the delicious buttery sauce than say spaghetti, which is much narrower.
Shrimp Scampi Recipe
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 crushed garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup white wine or fish stock
- ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 3/4 lbs large shelled shrimp
- 1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
- squeeze fresh lemon juice
- Hot cooked pasta to serve
1. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the olive oil, allow it to heat through.
2. Add the garlic and cook it gently so that it softens. That should take around a minute - don't let it color.
3. Add the white wine, black pepper and pepper flakes, bring it up to a simmer and allow it reduce by half - about 2 minutes.
4. Add the shrimp and move them around the skillet to cook - let them just turn pink or they will become tough if cooked for too long. They still have another minute or so of cooking in the next step.
5. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice, and again let the sauce bubble for a few seconds.
You can either serve shrimp scampi with crusty bread to mop up the gorgeous juices or stir it into hot pasta - I think linguine is best.
I like parmesan cheese with it - it's not typical, but I just love fresh parmesan cheese and anything vaguely Italian is enough of an excuse for me to use it!
It makes a fabulous appetizer - serve on small, hot dishes, spoon the juice over each portion equally and have some fresh crusty bread with it.
Cook's Tip
This method assumes you have bought fresh, raw shrimp which are a blue color - if you've bought cooked shrimp, then just let them heat through in the sauce - if you have bought frozen, then you *must* defrost them before you cook. You can buy frozen uncooked or cooked BUT they must defrost before cooking. You can speed up the process by putting the bag into a bowl of water, but the best way is to remove them from the freezer a couple of hours prior to cooking and let them defrost slowly.
The quick cooking time ensures that the shrimp do not toughen - they become very chewy if you overcook.
|
Cook's Notes The British cookery writer, Hannah Glasse first wrote about scampi in 1760 in her book 'The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy' and she prepared hers in just butter and lemon juice. Scampi is produced in the UK at Whitby |
You may also like these recipes
Some of the links on this site include affiliate links, providing Find-a-Seafood-Recipe a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you.
Subscribe to Seafood Recipe News - complete the form below.
Your email address is secure and will *only* be used to send Seafood Recipe News. When you confirm your subscription, you will be taken to a page where you can access your free eCourse. Complete the form and it will arrive over the following five days.
Shrimp Scampi Recipe
By Liz Alderson, Mar 30, 2016
This shrimp scampi recipe is a classic Italian-American dish.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 2 minutes
Yield: 2 whole fish
Main Ingredient: shrimp