Easy Shrimp Scampi
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese grated
- 8 ounces pasta linguine
- 16 large shrimp frozen and thawed or fresh
- 1 tablespoon fresh italian parsley finely chopped, reserve some for garnish
- 1 dash ground black pepper
- 1 dash kosher salt
- 1/2 cup dry white wine or vermouth (i use a pinot)
- 1 medium lemon
- Carbohydrate 99.9346667867855 g
- Cholesterol 181.109999922574 mg
- Fat 39.6491190427412 g
- Fiber 15.3471900572918 g
- Protein 23.4672489428571 g
- Saturated Fat 23.3089269494665 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (324g)
- Sodium 1214.16119256735 mg
- Sugar 84.5874767294937 g
- Trans Fat 3.27395508641645 g
- Calories 829 calories
Step-by-step
- If using frozen shrimp, defrost running cold water over shrimps in a colander for 5 minutes. Pat Dry. If using fresh shrimp, rinse and pat dry with paper towel. Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper.
- Cook pasta according to box directions, strain and set aside.
- In a medium skillet, over medium heat, heat butter. When foaming subsides, add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes, add red pepper flakes, and saute for 30 seconds, then add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Turn shrimp cook for an additional minute, then transfer shrimp to a bowl or plate and set aside.
- Turn heat up to medium high, add wine, bring to a boil stirring often scraping up bits from bottom. Add juice from 1 lemon, parsley, cook for 30 seconds more, then reduce heat to low, return the shrimp to the pan, and add pasta and toss well to coat.
- Dish out 2 servings, then sprinkle each plate with 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese and some fresh parsley.
Shrimp scampi often fails because home cooks throw every ingredient into a skillet at once, which invariably results in rubbery seafood, bitter scorched garlic, and a watery sauce. When raw shrimp hits a pan crowded with cold butter and wet aromatics, it steams rather than sears, missing out on the essential Maillard reactions that build deep savoriness. Achieving a glossy sauce that actually clings to linguine requires managing heat zones and removing the protein from the skillet before the pan deglazes with dry white wine.
Preventing bitter garlic dictates the exact cadence of the stovetop work. Mince cloves uniformly and introduce them only after butter foaming subsides, sauteing them for precisely two minutes over medium heat until fragrant but not browned, then immediately tossing in red pepper flakes for thirty seconds. Because shrimp cooks in roughly three minutes total, turning them halfway through ensures opaque flesh without internal toughness, while prematurely pulling them out preserves their moisture while the wine reduces.
Swapping dry vermouth for crisp pinot grigio offers an identical acidity profile if the wine rack runs dry, balancing the heavy dairy fat of twenty-three grams of saturated fat per serving.
