I first tasted this meal when my husband (who never cooks) made it for me. You know, when we were still dating…:) I wasn’t familiar with seafood so much those days. It was a simple and soooo delicious dish. I started to make it myself and as the time goes, I was adding little more of my tweaks to it. Recently, I bought a bunch of bok choy cabbage and decided to use it in my shrimp scampi. You can leave it out if you don’t care for it, but it came out really good!
Shrimp Scampi (this time a little different)
Ingredients:
1 bag of your favorite pasta (I like spaghetti or linguine)
1 leek cleaned, and chopped into rings
1 bok choy cabbage (optional)
3 cloves of garlic – pressed or finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound (about 10-12 large shrimp uncooked)
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
half a cup of white wine
salt and pepper
chopped basil and parsley for garnish
In a large frying pan melt butter with olive oil on medium heat and add red pepper flakes (if desired). Add chopped leeks, turn down the heat and let saute on low for 5-10 minutes until translucent. When caramelized and soft, add white wine to the pan and de-glaze it.
Let the wine reduce and add cleaned, raw shrimp. Shrimp should be in the sauce, not just on top of it, so it can cook well. Sometimes I like to cut the shrimp in half, because it’s easier to roll it on my fork with the spaghetti that way. Unfortunately, that didn’t make for the best picture. We love this dish so much that nobody can wait until the nice picture is taken 🙂
Cover the pan and cook few minutes until all the shrimp is pink. Don’t over cook the shrimp though, it only takes a short few minutes.
In the meantime, boil large pot of water, heavily salted and cook your pasta based on the instructions, drain and return to the pot. Add a splash of olive oil, stir and keep hot.
Add pressed garlic into the shrimp and stir well. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Rinse and chop bok choy cabbage. Add to the mixture and let cook for another minute. Add cooked hot pasta and toss together. Garnish with basil and parsley. Buon appetito!
Wine pairing suggestions:
I have tasted a lovely, fresh Huber Hugo Grüner Veltliner (Austria) with this dish and it was so refreshing! Another choice was my long time favorite Las Brisas from Spain. The Spanish wine added a lot of character because of the expressive Sauvignon Blanc, but Huber was a superb match with shrimp scampi in my opinion. Both great wines for spring and upcoming summer!
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