Thursday, March 22, 2012

Well, I had some Elders from my church come over last night and they had requested a home-made dinner.  So, I decided to have a little Italian food.  I ended up making my take on Shrimp Scampi.  For reference here is what I used to feed 4 people:

2 pounds 21-25 Peeled and Devein'd Shrimp
1 Pound of Penne Pasta
8oz of Fresh Spinach
5 Cloves of garlic (good sized)
1 Med. Shallot
3 5x6 tomatoes (the round ones on the vine)
2 small onions
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
As Needed Rosemary Infused Olive Oil
1/2 ounce of basil
1/2 bottle of white wine (Chardonnay)
1/2 pound of butter (YUMMY!)
2 lemons (juice only-no seeds)
garnished with 1 sprig of Italian Parsley

All of these ingredients can be found at Albertsons and Fresh & Easy. That's where I collected it all.  Approximate costs for this dinner was about $40. Which is only $10 per person to make.  If that sounds high, I sold this dish at my restaurants for $24.95. So, to make this at home you can save yourself 60%  per person!

For the procedure I did the following:

Prep:
Dice Onions
Mince Garlic & Shallot
Med Dice Tomatoes
Mince Basil
Rough chop the spinach
Defrost Shrimp and Marinade (See below)
Cook pasta Al Dente (of it you like it soft, overcook it)

Cooking:
-Get a hot Pan, add some oil (i used Rosemary oil, you can use EVOO if you don't have any infused oil) add shrimp and  saute to about 50%-60% cooked (roughly 1 minute per side)
-Season (S&P)
-Remove shrimp from the pan, drain excess liquid
-Add more oil and saute the onion till translucent (about 2-4 minutes) then add shallot (saute 1 more minute) and then garlic (saute 1 more minute)
-Add tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 minutes
-Add spinach and toss all together
-Season (S&P)
-Add white wine to deglaze pan
-Add juice of 1 lemon
-Reduce liquid to 1/2 way
*It should be a little liquidy at this point
-Add 1 stick of butter (in a 1 pound box of butter, you get 4 4oz stick of butter. So add 1 4oz stick)
*Make sure you cut the butter in to 1/2" strips length-wise. This will make it melt faster
-Add shrimp
-Add pre-cooked pasta
-Toss all together and add remaining stick of butter (sliced again length-wise)
-Add basil
-Adjust seasoning with Salt & Pepper as needed
-Add remaining lemon juice if acid is not high enough
-Plate pasta on the bottom with the shrimp
-Grab a couple (3 pcs is good) and stack in the center of plate/bowl
-Garnish with Sprig of Parsley
-EAT & ENJOY!!!

This is what you should end up with:

1 comment:

  1. Now that you made it look so easy! I see dinner for Wed night! :)

    ReplyDelete