Idea #54 for using up the leftover blender lemonade pieces: adding a bright lemon kick to this buttery-garlic Shrimp Scampi! I really meant it when I told you to keep that stuff.
Think about this combination for a sec. Shrimp, butter, and garlic. Garlic, butter, and white wine. White wine, fresh parsley, and juicy little lemon pieces. Lemon pieces, sea salt, and pepper. And of course, butter, a pile of thin noodles, and a pinch of Parmesan cheese. It’s like all of summer’s best flavors combined with my favorite “meat” (I’m looking at you, shrimpers) and the most cozy kind of comfort food (a large bowl of delicate cappellini noodles).
I should add that although the word butter made four appearances in that description, this Shrimp Scampi is not necessarily really butter-loaded unhealthy. In fact, in my personal Pinch of Yum handbook this is a winner for something low-ish in calories, high in refreshing flavor, and still totally craveable for those need-a-big-bowl-of-noodles-NOW kind of nights.
This weekend we had the privilege of hosting Alex and Sonja of A Couple Cooks for breakfast, AND Steph and Elliot of Girl Versus Dough for dinner. It was a blast and we are so thankful that these lovely blogger friends were willing to spend time in our little home with us even though we don’t have air conditioning or matching dessert plates.
What I realized about myself after spending time with these relaxed, organized people is that I’m a procrastinator to the max and therefore I’m rarely relaxed or organized. Read: mental train wreck of thoughts, ideas, to-dos, urgent to-dos, etc. I’d like to change that.
Both of these couples ate so slowly, so carefully, so… beautifully? How’s that for a weird eating descriptor? and I can neither confirm nor deny that I myself am some kind of non-careful speedy cavewoman eater. I had to mentally coach myself through a casual and normal paced meal. This is what happens when you have classy people over – you realize that you want to be classy, too.
Becoming Classy Girl who takes her time and does things beautifully, comfortably, and ahead of schedule might be semi-attainable for me someday, buuut there’s no time like the present for embracing that deep down I am actually Time-Saving Girl who loves to make a weeknight dinner in a speedy flash of 15 minutes.
That’s why I make recipes like this.
In addition to being both summery fresh and comfort-foodish, and being a major winner with Bjork, it’s fast (literally 15 minutes fast if you are also of Time-Saving personality), super easy, and light. Just 340 calories. And by the way, the version pictured on this post? It’s gluten free. No, I’m not GF but I don’t know, sometimes I like to try new things. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? This is good on so many levels.
15 Minute Shrimp Scampi
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Description
This simple shrimp scampi can be made in just 15 minutes! Lots of lemon flavor, buttery shrimp, fresh parsley, and noodles.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb. raw shrimp, shells and tails removed (see notes)
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon butter (can add more to taste)
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 1/4 cup minced lemon pieces*
- 8 ounces uncooked capellini noodles (I used Jovial gluten free)
- a handful of fresh chopped parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- First five minutes: shrimp. Start a pot of boiling water for the noodles. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a small skillet. Press the excess moisture out of the shrimp (especially if they were originally frozen) and place them in the hot skillet. Don’t move them around right away – let them cook for 1-2 minutes before flipping them over to cook on the other side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper while still in the pan. When the shrimp are cooked through, remove from heat and set aside.
- Second five minutes: sauce and noodles. Put the noodles in the boiling water and cook as directed on the package. In the skillet used earlier, add the garlic and butter and reduce the heat to medium. Saute for 3 minutes, stirring continuously, until the garlic is soft and fragrant. The garlic will taste bad if it gets burned so be careful! Add the wine and allow to cook down (simmer until there is less liquid) for a few minutes. Add the lemon pieces and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Finally, add the shrimp back to the skillet just to warm it up again.
- Last five minutes: assemble. Drain the noodles and return to the saucepan. Add the shrimp/lemon/garlic mixture and the fresh parsley. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and top with a tiny bit of Parmesan cheese.
Notes
*I used frozen raw shrimp that still had the shell on so I had to spend a few minutes peeling the shells off. I also chose to remove the tails which was nice because then we didn’t have to worry about removing the tails while we were eating.
*I used pieces from the leftover blender lemonade. You could recreate this by finely chopping a little bit of lemon (rind and everything) or just use 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice and a spoon full of zest. You can easily adjust this depending on how lemony you want it to taste.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: shrimp scampi recipe, shrimp recipe, shrimp pasta
