I thought I'd share what I had for lunch today and how I made it. I don't have any plans for the weekend, just read up on my YA, study a bit, and then pray for my dad. I'm very glad a new week (and month!) will be coming in tomorrow, though. I hated October a little, and November will be great. I can feel it!:)
In which I share a recipe for shrimp scampi pasta*
What you need:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
peeled and deveined medium-sized shrimp (about 250g.)
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (you can wave this off if you don't like heat, I don't)
salt and pepper
some pasta
chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (but basil is fine too)
(some people add white wine, about half a cup but I suggest skip this step and drink the damn thing instead)
What you need to do:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until just tender. Reserve a portion of pasta-cooking water (this is a legit Giada DiLaurentis cooking tip), then drain pasta. Heat oil in a pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté shrimp, turning over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add garlic to oil remaining in skillet along with red pepper flakes, wine (if you're maarte), salt, and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add butter to skillet, stirring until melted, and stir in shrimp. Remove skillet from heat. Toss pasta well with shrimp mixture and parsley in large bowl, adding some of reserved cooking water if necessary to keep moist (or they will clump together).
Eat. Enjoy.
*This is a relatively fool-proof but absolutely delicious dish, once you get the timing for cooking the shrimp right. Shrimp when undercooked is just bad, it's mushy and it will leave an itchy sensation on your tongue. When overcooked, on the otherhand, shrimp is just tough and useless so you have got to watch your shrimp carefully. It must turn into a beautiful pink with the body slightly puffy from the deveining--that's when you remove the long vein at the back of the shrimp's body. Many celebrity cooks like Ina Garten and Giada DiLaurentis have their own versions of shrimp scampi. This is mine. It's not way off the original version but when I make one for myself, I tend to fill it up with so much garlic. It's delicious.
