I have always been a sucker for seafood. One of the beauties of traveling is experiencing the freshest local catch – prepared simply, and served steaming hot.
My grandmother was an avid fisherwoman. She would get up with the sun every summer morning, row (alone!) out to her favourite fishing spot, returning with enough perch and sunfish to feed us a great breakfast.
One of the funniest memories I have of Grandma was when it took her forever to return after one of her fish outings. Her anchor had hooked on something, and rowing back to shore was a real chore. (She was a tiny woman – maybe 5’1″ and 100 pounds.) Grandma eventually made it back to the dock, dragging a double-sized bed frame someone had chucked into the lake years ago.
I never have been much of a fisherwoman . . . .
From the time they were very young, our kids loved going to Red Lobster. Where else can you be served the “fresh catch of the day” from distant oceans? in Minnesota? dependably delicious? Well, shrimp scampi is a whole heckuva lot cheaper to make at home, tastes just as wonderful (how can you screw up shrimp, garlic, and butter???), and is ready in 10 minutes.
I leave the tails on the shrimp – how else are you going to pick them up? Of course, if you are more refined (i.e. use silverware) and don’t want to get greasy fingers, pull the tails off the thawed shrimp before cooking.
Print
Simple Shrimp Scampi
- Total Time: 13 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Description
Restaurant-fancy without the restaurant-pricey!
Ingredients
- 1 – 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, thawed and deveined, tails still on
- 4 garlic cloves, grated
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley (or 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Freshly grated parmesan and fresh parsley for topping, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat broiler. Place shrimp in a single layer on bottom of rimmed baking sheet.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan, grate in the garlic, and stir in seasonings and lemon juice. Pour over the shrimp.
- Broil for 3 minutes, stir the shrimp, flipping them over and coating with butter again, then broil another 2-5 minutes, (depending on how hot your broiler is) until shrimp is pink and opaque. Watch it closely, because these cook super fast, and you don’t want scorched, rubbery shrimp.
- Top with parmesan and parsley, if desired, and serve with brown rice, or other side dish.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
