Shrimp Scampi
A quick and easy recipe for shrimp scampi.
Ingredients
- 1 lb shrimp frozen, tail off and cleaned
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup white cooking wine
Instructions
- Prepare your shrimp. Frozen shrimp can be defrosted in a colander under running water. This takes about 15 minutes. It is best to use frozen, tail off, cleaned shrimp - because all the work is done. Fresh shrimp requires careful cleaning and removal of the tails. You can find instructions online.
- While the shrimp is defrosting, prepare the garlic.
- Peel the garlic. Crush it with the flat side of a large knife (see the photo). Mince the crushed garlic.
- Pat the defrosted shrimp dry and place it in a Ziploc or other sealable container.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the bag with the shrimp.
- Lightly salt the shrimp and add 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
- Add 1/2 of the crushed garlic.
- Seal the bag/container and shake everything together.
- Ideally, let the shrimp sit in the closed container in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I have cooked the shrimp after 10 minutes and thought it was fine.
- As you near the end of the marinading time, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium high heat.
- Add the remaining garlic to the pan and cook about 2 minutes, moving the garlic frequently. NOTE: Do not let the garlic burn or brown. Lower the heat if necessary.
- Add the shrimp, garlic, and the entire contents of the marinade container to the pan and stir. Cook for three minutes.
- I prefer to lower the heat a bit as this point, or even remove the pan from the heat for a second, to add the wine. Wine can burn and I would prefer not to set the kitchen on fire.
- Once the wine is added, cook over medium heat until the shrimp is pink and cooked through, 5-8 minutes.
- Shrimp scampi is great with pasta (I like fine linguine) and crusty bread. Make sure the pasta is ready at the same time as the shrimp as shrimp is easily overcooked.
