I know, I know. You’re thinking “wait, we’ve already done a shrimp scampi, why are we doing another one.” This recipe is very similar to the one previously posted, but has a special place in my heart. It’s been mentioned that I’m not a huge seafood fan, but I will occasionally eat shrimp. Growing up, mom would occasionally make a shrimp pasta with a simple butter and oil sauce. With all the fresh seafood available here, mom and I decided to recreate this dish while she was here this week. The beauty of this recipe is that it can be customized. Don’t like lemon? Leave it out. Want it spicier? Add more red pepper. Because of this simplicity, I’m just going to list what I put in my sauce and not give quantities. Just go for it.

Scampi

• Unsalted butter
• Olive oil
• Red pepper flakes
• Lemon juice and zest
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Salt and pepper
• Angel hair pasta
• Shrimp- fresh or frozen, we used fresh

We used angel hair pasta, because I like the delicacy of it with the hefty shrimp. I briefly considered making the pasta, but didn’t want to spend a beautiful day with my mom inside so we took the easy way. No regrets.

I melted my butter in a sauce pan, and then added garlic. We took the pan off the heat, to make sure the garlic didn’t burn. Once we were sure it wouldn’t, we added oil to the pan and let it simmer. We then added our clean shrimp, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. We cooked the shrimp evenly on all sides. Then we added more oil, parsley, the lemon juice, and the lemon zest. We let it all hang out while the pasta finished cooking (in it’s super salty water). Once the pasta was drained, and we had pasta waster reserved, we mixed the pasta, some pasta water, and sauce together in the same pot we cooked the pasta in. If it’s looking dry, add more oil or pasta water. We served it with leftover Parmesan cheese from the lasagna and fresh parsley from our pretty little herb garden. The fresh shrimp were huge and meaty, and added much needed heft to the delicate pasta.

Cortese 

This wine was so good! I was so grateful for a fun white after last weeks Petite Sirah.
The cortese grape is from Italy, and is not produced in large quantities for it’s tendency to be bland. I did not find it bland at all! It tasted really fresh and herby, which complimented the scampi perfectly. The smell reminded me a lot of lemons and limes, with a touch of grass.