Tonight I made shrimp scampi, one of my favorite dishes. It tasted delicious and comforting after a long day. Spending time in the kitchen prepping and cooking is my zen zone. I poured a glass of white wine that I opened up for the scampi and played some Italian dinner party music.
I don’t have a formal shrimp scampi recipe, the kind I make is baked and topped with breadcrumbs.
I peeled and butterflied two pounds of 21-25 size shrimp. I take the tails off my shrimp for scampi; my family hates having to cut them off. Next, I minced 5 cloves of garlic. In a bowl, I combined the shrimp, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tsp dried oregano, a pinch of crushed red pepper, salt & pepper, the zest and juice of a lemon, and 1/4 cup white wine. You can leave the wine out and add either stock or more lemon juice. I didn’t have any fresh Italian parsley on hand; I added about 4 tbsp minced if I did.
Turn the oven to 400-degrees. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and marinate for 20 minutes while the oven is pre-heating, I like to arrange my butterflied shrimp in a pattern in a baking dish, but you don’t have to. You don’t even have to butterfly the shrimp; I like them that way.
After arranging the shrimp, I pour the rest of the ingredients from the bowl evenly over the shrimp. Next, I sprinkle Italian seasoned bread crumbs. I use gluten-free because I have to; I used to use Progresso Italian breadcrumbs before going gluten-free.
I melted 4 tbsp of butter and poured it over the breadcrumbs. I thinly sliced lemon slices to arrange on top. Again, this is how I do it; the lemon slices aren’t necessary; they are more for looks.
Bake the scampi at 400-degrees for 15 minutes. That’s it, don’t overcook them. Serve immediately with rice or pasta.
Like you, the kitchen and a cocktail after a long day is my peaceful zen zone. Smooths my feathers as it were. Holding you in my thoughts.