6 cloves garlic, finely chopped, but not crushed or grated (about 20g)
1 small pinch red pepper flakes, optional
1 tablespoon (15g) lemon juice (about ½ a lemon)
6 ounces thin spaghetti
1 teaspoon lightly packed lemon zest (a little less than 1 lemon)
Parsley, chopped, to taste
In a bowl, combine the deveined and shelled shrimp baking soda with 2 teaspoons salt. Refrigerate 15-30 minutes while performing next steps.
Boil a small amount of well-salted water in a saucepan or skillet (it should be just enough water to cover the pasta while cooking). Add pasta and cook until just short of al dente. Remove pasta or drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water.
In a small saucepan, add shrimp shells and wine. Bring to a moderate boil, stirring to keep most shells submerged, for about 5-10 minutes, until half a cup of liquid remains. Strain out shells and reserve liquid.
In a stainless steel skillet, heat olive oil on high until shimmering. Add shrimp in one layer, and sear for 1-2 minutes until one side has browned, then flip and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes until cooked through (you can use an instant read thermometer to double check that the shrimp have hit at least 135F)
Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the shrimp to a bowl with tongs, leaving the oil in the pan, and let the pan cool down for a about a minute.
Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic and red pepper flakes to taste, and stir, aggressively scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a flat-end wood or metal spatula. Adjust the heat so that the garlic sizzles slightly, but doesn’t brown. Cook garlic for about a minute.
Increase heat to high, add reserved shrimp/wine liquid. Allow to boil for about a minute
Add butter. Stir vigorously with a whisk to emulsify for about 30 seconds.
Add the lemon juice, and shrimp, and stir to combine. Add pasta and about ½ cup of pasta water, stirring continually with tongs to coat the pasta and keep the sauce emulsified. Cook for 1 minute, adding more pasta water as necessary to keep the desired consistency. Run a spatula along the edges of the pan to scrape any accumulated garlic and parsley back into the pasta.
Add parsley and lemon zest, stir to combine, and serve immediately.
[…] Shrimp scampi is a dish that seems simple at a glance. Shrimp and pasta in a sauce of garlic, butter, lemon, and parsley. Should be hard to screw up, right? But the best shrimp scampi elevates that simple mix of ingredients into a creamy, cohesive dish, and the worst yields an unharmonious mix of greasy pasta, rubbery shrimp, and harsh garlic and wine flavor. We’ve figured out a recipe that employs a few tricks to give the home cook the most foolproof method to get restaurant-quality results at home. To see just the recipe, click here. […]
#AnEngineerCooks: Shrimp Scampi Story – Delicious Bites of Life | 6th Apr 18
[…] Shrimp scampi is a dish that seems simple at a glance. Shrimp and pasta in a sauce of garlic, butter, lemon, and parsley. Should be hard to screw up, right? But the best shrimp scampi elevates that simple mix of ingredients into a creamy, cohesive dish, and the worst yields an unharmonious mix of greasy pasta, rubbery shrimp, and harsh garlic and wine flavor. We’ve figured out a recipe that employs a few tricks to give the home cook the most foolproof method to get restaurant-quality results at home. To see just the recipe, click here. […]