My Shrimp Scampi Pasta Recipe. Thousands and Thousands Served.
As a former professional chef who owned a highly acclaimed bistro for about 7 years and spent 30 years cheffing some nice places I like to offer up some of my favorites once in a while.
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time and it is so simple to make.
The first thing I want you to know is that I do not believe in mixing wine or alcohol into any of my fish or seafood dishes.
There are two reasons for this:
I like to taste my seafood and not have the flavor changed by adding wine to it. Many seafood dish recipes call for white wine and fresh tomatoes. When I eat seafood cooked with white wine and tomatoes together I get violently ill for some reason so as a chef I avoided combining them in my recipes.
Here is my recipe for shrimp scampi.
This recipe is for 2 very hungry adults and one or two small children;
Ingredients
1 pound of Bow-tie aka "Farfalle" Pasta 1.5 pounds of raw white "shell on" shrimp or the raw "shell on" shrimp of your choice. Shrimp must have shell on when you buy them to make this recipe. 8 large cloves of fresh peeled garlic "sliced thin or chopped medium fine chop, but not minced 1/2 pound of fresh green beans, blanched in boiling water and then cut into 3 or 4 pieces each so you have 1" Lengths of beans. 3 tablespoons - each of WASHED, FRESH, medium chopped, Italian Parsley & Basil. Dried herbs just don't cut it in this dish. Juice from one FRESH lemon " not that crappy stuff in the bottle" All Shrimp Stock YOU made from the shells "recipe will follow" 1/4 to 1/2 stick unsalted butter "depends on how much fat you want". If you go with 1/2 stick then save some of it for the very end when you are tossing the pasta and then add it to finish the dish off. 2 tablespoons olive oil - "the olive oil keeps the butter from burning" Parmesan Cheese - As much as you like! tablespoon flour "optional"
All right now that you have every thing together I will take you by the hand.
Whoever you make this for will be your best friend, TRUST ME!
Put your pot of water on the stove for the pound of farfalle pasta you have to cook. Be sure to season the water properly with salt "To Taste". I use farfalle/bow-tie pasta because I have tested all sizes and shapes and find farfalle/bow-tie pasta sucks up the broth better and fits perfectly with the size of the shrimp and green beans. The green beans are quite unusual in scampi and is a key ingredient in this dish. Leave the beans out if you prefer. Peel the shell off of the shrimp and remove tail-shell also. Place shells in the smallest pot you have "preferably a non reactive pot like stainless steel". Press and crunch the shells down a little. If you don't crunch them down in the pan then you will have to much liquid in the pan. Crunching the shells down also releases the flavor. BE CAREFUL not to cut yourself on the shells! I use the bottom of a plastic drinking glass to crunch the shells down in the pan. Cover the shells with barely enough cold water to cover. Bring the shrimp pot to a medium boil and then immediately turn it down on very low and simmer for 10 minutes, stir the shells up a few times while simmering. Cook NO more than 10 minutes because the fresh flavor will be cooked off if you do. Strain off the shrimp liquid, discard the shells. Keep liquid aside for the dish.
All right, by now your pasta water should be boiling and your shrimp stock should be strained.
Cooking is all about timing so you will fly through the next step and be eating in less than 15 minutes.
Final approach:
Drop your pasta in the boiling salted water and stir it a couple of times during the first minute. Place your frying pan on the stove over medium heat, add butter and olive oil to the cold pan. As butter melts with olive oil swirl it around the bottom of the pan to coat. Add chopped garlic and then turn the pan on low. Constantly stir garlic so it evenly cooks but is not browning. Garlic will begin to become translucent in color. Add green beans to pan and cook on low for a minute or 2 while constantly stirring. Turn heat up on pan so it doesn't cool while adding the shrimp. Add shrimp and spread around pan. Reduce heat when shrimp is cooking over medium heat. Turn shrimp in pan so they cook evenly and stir to keep garlic from burning. Stir your pasta in the boiling pot. If it is ready then strain it but do not rinse or oil it down. Once the shrimp is cooked 1/3 of the way through, sprinkle pan mixture with flour and stir for 30 seconds or so. Add the shrimp broth to the pan and raise heat to high. Stir constantly especially on the bottom of the pan so it doesn't burn. When everything looks good and the shrimp are ALMOST fully cooked l, Add lemon juice, Add Chopped Basil & Parsley and stir. Toss with pasta and some fresh ground black pepper and Parmesan cheese
If the pasta doesn't fit it the fry pan then leave the pasta in the pot you cooked it in and dump the shrimp mixture over the pasta. Stir it well and then cover tightly and cook on very low for about 2 minutes so the liquid is absorbed and the flavors come together.
Finish with extra virgin olive oil drizzle (optional)
The trick to the dish is not to overcook the shrimp.
Another great variation on this dish is to leave out the flour and green beans and substitute them with fresh wilted spinach, diced feta cheese and tomato, for that Greek Style Shrimp Scampi Pasta.
I find myself bored not having my regular customers to cook for so I think this is a great medium to share my all time favorites. I could write 50 books if I put my head down and did it.
Enjoy!
Thanks for reading my recipe article. If you enjoyed the recipe and like to cook please visit me at http://EdibleBlogger.com Edible Blogger is my massive food website featuring cooking equipment, gourmet foods, fine wines and more. Over 15,000 items and growing.
