Seductive Scampi
I wanted to build off of last week’s post and share this mouth watering recipe for Shrimp Scampi. Not only is it delicious, but if you already have the compound butter made, it is quick and easy.
In this picture, you can see the shallow baking dish I used, the ingredients (including the lemon salt garnish) and what the pre-cooked butterflied shrimp should look like.
If you have made the compound butter and lemon salt from last week’s post, this weeks dish should be quick and easy. The recipe is for one or appetizer size, but it is easy to scale up proportionately.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. large, shell on shrimp (size 16-20 per pound)
1 tbsp. compound garlic herb butter (recipe in last week’s post)
1/4 tsp (just a pinch or two) fine bread crumbs
1/2 tsp olive oil (can use cooking spray)
(as needed or a pinch) lemon salt to garnish
* Note about the shrimp : I prefer to buy raw, wild caught, shell on shrimp, as I think you get better quality and trust myself to clean it better than the shelled and deveined varieties. Fresh is great when you’re able, but I usually have a bag of frozen in my kitchen for a quick and easy meal at all times in case you want to use that. For this recipe you can use shelled and deveined, as long as it is still raw and has the tail on.
Directions:
To prepare the (defrosted) shrimp you will need to remove the shell, but leave the tail on. I usually pinch the legs on the under side to start and then uncoil the shell segments that way, being careful not to pull away the tail. Once the shell is removed, it is time to devein them. Take a sharp knife and make a slight and shallow incision along the entire length of the back from the top to where the tail shell is. Once that is done, take your finger and spread open the back flaps to expose the vein. Run the shrimp under cold water, pulling away the vein and any other roe or debris that needs to be removed. Once cleaned, take your knife and cut the shrimp in half along the same line you deveined, thus butterflying it. Make sure you still keep the tail intact and don’t cut into it. See the bottom shrimp in the picture above as to what it should look like at this point. Now take your shallow baking dish and lightly oil the bottom and sides of it. Next, sprinkle (about 1/3 ) of your bread crumbs on the bottom of the dish. I then pull the tail through the butterflied shrimp to creat the “Y” shaped as seen on the plate above (top shrimp). This is just to help layer the shrimp in the dish, keep the tails all pointed the same direction, and keeps the tender side of the flesh up. Placed one shrimp after another in this “Y” fashion in the baking dish until it is filled up. Make sure each shrimp lies flat but fills in the gaps. Now its time for the compound butter. If you have a one tablespoon wide slice (about 1 cm) of garlic herb butter, cut it in half thickness wise, and each then into thirds. Space each piece of butter out along the top of the shrimp, but don’t worry if it looks like some parts aren’t covered. Use the rest of your bread crumbs and sprinkle over the shrimp dish. Preheat oven to 400*. Once the oven is up to temperature, bake for 9 minutes, remove, then let rest 1 minute. Garnish with lemon salt and serve (I leave mine in the dish so be careful handling). The tails will make them easy and clean to handle if serving as an appetizer. Enjoy !!
