For anyone that scowers the web looking for interesting recipes to test out, you’ll have experienced a few claiming to be the ‘world’s best’. I usually pay no mind, but I was looking for a light adventure yesterday, so when I stumbled upon a recipe claiming to be the ‘World’s Best Shrimp Scampi‘, I thought to myself: mission accepted!
Luckily for me I had all the ingredients, so truly all that I needed to do was sit down and go through the recipe. Let me warn everyone, if you’re going to try this recipe, make sure you have all your mis-en-place in place because once you start the cooking process, everything becomes needed really quickly.
I boiled my pasta beforehand, and instead of using linguine, I used spaghetti, which works just as well. I also juiced the lemon (I used 2 instead of one, since one of my lemons wasn’t feeling ‘juicy’) and measured out the white wine beforehand as well. So truly, once the cooking process started, it was a matter of adding the ingredients to the frying pan and letting it do it’s magic. I used a steel frying pan because I like the way it conducts heat at high temperatures and provide an even distribution of heat during fast cooking (which is incredibly important when cooking quickly as the food has to be even done at more or less the same time).
So, once you start the cooking process, it’s go! go! go! go! (watch the video below for a hint… I have to admit that even with all my prep, I still struggled to record everything). However, do not be intimidated because it’s truly a simple dish where the main skill required of you is adding things to a frying pan and stirring.
The recipe is enough for two people, so I had leftovers for lunch today and let me tell you, it was even better the next day. The lemon juice combined with the flavour of the white, just made the dish spectacular and because I like a little heat, I did add one red habanero pepper (seeds removed) to the onions and garlic I sautéed them.
So what’s the verdict? It was damn amazing Shrimp Scampi, but is it the World’s best? I’ll leave that up to you. Find the recipe below and meet me in the comments section with your opinion. You have a better recipe? Please send it along. I’d love to try your version.
Enjoy!
The World’s Best Shrimp Scampi
A review of a recipe that claims to be the world's best Shrimp Scampi. Spoiler: it's pretty delicious.
- 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus more for drizzling)
- 2 Shallots (finely diced)
- 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 handful Linguini
- 4 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 1 Lemon (juiced)
- 1/2 cup Dry White Wine
- 1 Red Habanero (seeds removed)
- 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley (chopped)
- Kosker Salt (to taste)
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 pound Shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- Pinch Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Make sure that you have all your ingredients prepped and ready before you start the cooking process. This is very important as Shrimp Scampi is very quick cooking. To cook your pasta, bring a large pot of water to boil and add your pasta with a couple of tablespoons of salt. Cook according to the packet.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Swirl together in the pan. Sauté the shallots, garlic, habanero and red pepper flakes (if using) until the shallots are translucent (about 3 to 4 minutes).
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add shrimp to the skillet, being careful not to let the shrimp or garlic burn. Sauté until shrimp is pink but still slightly undone (about 1 minute per side).
Raise the heat to high and add the lemon juice and white wine, stirring occasionally until reduced by half (about 3 minutes).
Add the remaining butter and allow to melt and season the shrimp before adding your pasta to the skillet. Be sure to add a little bit of the pasta water to the skillet to ensure everything coats the pasta well. Reduced the heat to medium and continue to sauté for a minute.
Add the freshly chopped parsley to the skillet and sauté for another minute before serving. The pan will look a little dry, but that's alright. The flavour has been absorbed into the pasta.
Orana Eats: Food | Wellbeing | Travel 