Sautéed Shrimp Scampi
In this video I will show you a restaurant style sauté. Shrimp scampi. What no pasta? So many recipes I see consist of shrimp scampi with pasta. But I prefer sautéed shrimp scampi, accompanied with a side of white rice. Simple, but oh so elegant. OK, let’s cook this bad boy, I’m starving. Your cookin with Crank.
Here is what you need to get this dish going.
5 – 7 jumbo shrimp peeled, deveined and butterflied
2 Tbsp finely minced Garlic, red onion or shallots, and de-seeded serrano pepper or other hot pepper.
2 Tbsp butter
Finely chopped parsley
Salt & Pepper
Pinch crushed red pepper
½ cup white wine
¼ cup olive oil
Seasoned Flour
1 cup rice
2 cups water
First, lets cook the rice. Rice cookers are great, but I’m old school, and I hated school. But rice on the stovetop is my preferred way to go. Simple and works every time, twice as much water as rice, and that’s it. In this case I used 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water, bring the rice to a boil, cover and lower the heat to a simmer.
OK, the rice is done, keep it covered and set it aside. This dish will not long at all.
First get that skillet on the burner and add the oil. Flour the shrimp on all sides. Once the oil is hot, add the shrimp to the oil with the butterflied end down. The garlic, onion and pepper mixture are very finely minced so that they stick to the shrimp better, so they will release flavor quickly in the oil. So, when you are ready to move the shrimp around, add the aromatics, or sofrito, or mirepoix, or it can even be called the holy trinity of Cajun cooking. Once you add that mixture, keep everything moving so nothing gets burnt. This isn’t one of those dishes where you are trying to achieve caramelization. Be sure to add a pinch of salt and pepper.
Now, with the Shrimp not quite done all the way, hit it with the wine to deglaze the pan so all those flavors come together, add the butter, and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Add another pinch of salt and pepper, a squeeze of a lemon, but thanks to sheltering in place, I don’t have a fresh lemon, so a squirt of lemon juice will do. Add fresh parsley and keep everything moving.
At this point, the shrimp is just about done, move them a around individually to coat them before they go to plate. If this was a pasta dish, I would have added fish stock, or chicken stock, so the reduction process would be longer. But this dish is almost done, do you see how this delicious sauce is coming together? The coating of flour on the shrimp is enough to form this classic pan sauce.
Now lets plate the rice, and arrange the shrimp around the rice. You see those bubbles? As the sauce thickens, the bubbles will be less rapid, and you will see less of them. Once the shrimp is out of the pan, stir the sauce a bit, but yea, this pan sauce is perfect, and the timing was flawless.
Now take a spoon and drizzle this love all over that mouthwatering perfectly cooked shrimp, You can drizzle some over the rice also. Garnish with some fresh parsley, and if I had fresh lemon, I would have added a wedge or two.
Now your Restaurant style sautéed shrimp scampi with rice is done, and look how spectacular it looks, and it tastes just as good as it looks.
Scampi are actually, lobster-like crustaceans with pale pink shells (also called langoustines). One traditional way of preparing them in Italy, is to sauté them with olive oil, garlic, onion and white wine. Over the years, pasta was incorporated, because pasta is a staple food for Italians, so why not right. But all to often, when you research the origin of some dishes, you find something completely different than what we see today.
Well, I hope you whip this traditional Italian favorite up for yourself and give it a try. Thanks for hangin out with me, I’m Rich Crankshaw, and your cooking with Crank.