National Shrimp Scampi Day

Monday, April 29th is "National Shrimp Scampi Day". Go figure! It seems like we're always celebrating something. Like the famous line in the Forrest Gump movie, Bubba would say, "like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it."  (source http://www.imdb.com/).

Shrimp Scampi ingredients

But that's not it. There's more! One of my personal favorites is Shrimp Scampi. According to Wikipedia, In the USA, the term "scampi", by itself, is also the name of a dish of shrimp served in garlic butter and dry white wine, served either with bread, or over pasta or rice, although sometimes just the shrimp alone. The word "scampi" is often construed as that style of preparation rather than an ingredient, with that preparation being called "shrimp scampi", (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scampi).

Can you smell that?

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted 

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon, scallions, chopped (optional) 

to taste salt

to taste pepper

to taste paprika

1 pound fresh shrimp, uncooked, shelled and deveined without tails

1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced 

2 tablespoons white wine

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

as needed Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated 

Cottage fries, squash, broccoli, starring Shrimp Scampi

Directions

Heat olive oil and butter in a large saute pan. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add shrimp and saute 2-3 minutes. Season shrimp with the salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. 

Deglaze the pan with the white wine and lemon juice. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Sprinkle with scallions and parsley. Finish with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.Serve with rice, your favorite pasta, or all by itself. 

To watch Bubba talking to Forrest about shrimp go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09KL2HUXE6Q   
© TMelle 2013