A Cooking Update - Shrimp Scampi

Here is an upadate on what I have been cooking.

Friday was my wife's birthday dinner. Her request was Shrimp Scampi. I had never made it before, but I knew the gist was garlic, lemon, and butter. Here is what I came up with...

1 lb. of the best wild caught shrimp I could find, shelled, deveined, and cleaned
olive oil
1 garden grown red onion, diced fine
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed and diced fine
juice and zest of 1 lemon, plus a couple wedges
4 tbsp unsalted butter
Handful Italian parsley
Italian breadcrumbs
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb. linguine (I used homemade PA dutch egg noodles from Wegmans)
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper

I preheated my oven to 375F. I heated up some olive oil over medium heat, sweated the onion for 5 minutes or so, with some sea salt. While this was going on, I lightly dredged the shrimp with the Italian breadcrumbs. Next I added the garlic and cooked for another minute or two. Then I added the butter and let it get nice and hot, raising the heat to med-high. I browned the shrimp on each side, about 3-4 minutes a side. I wasn't worried about cooking them through, I just wanted some color. While the shrimp were cooking, I finely chopped the lemon zest and the parsley together, like a gremolata without the garlic (we had plenty). Just before the shrimp were done, I liberally sprinkled the zest and parsley. The shrimp come out and go into a buttered baking dish in a single layer.

The pan goes back onto the heat. I added the wine and the juice of 3/4 of the lemon and deglazed the pan, reducing the liquid by 1/3 or so. The liquid gets poured back over the shrimp. I then sprinkled a little more breadcrumbs over the top and baked for 15-20 minutes. During this time I boiled the pasta. Switched to broil on high for 2-3 minutes to brown the shrimp and we are feasting. I reserved a pinch of the gremolata-lite and a lemon wedge for each plate.

I served over the pasta and knocked back a couple glasses of wine. There was enough for 4 people.