Baked Shrimp Scampi

There’s not a lot to complain about a dish that has fresh shrimp cooked in butter, wine, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, herbs and lots of garlic. 

While these flavor combinations are nothing new, I think that the cooking style makes this dish a bit unique.  Instead of sautéing the shrimp is butter and then building the sauce thereafter, this recipe has everything bake in one dish.  Not only does it make prep and clean up so much easier, but I also love the idea of everyone getting their own little casserole dish as well. Of course, if you don’t have individual serving dishes, feel free to use one big one and just spoon out each individual portion, and it will still be great!

The crispy panko crumbs that I used here also add a nice textural contrast to the shrimp.  Plus, the crazy quantity of herbs and garlic I use truly permeate the shrimp and the resulting flavor is amazing!

I served the shrimp with kale chips and sweet potatoes, but I think broccoli and pasta cooked in a light butter/lemon sauce would be a great nod to a more traditional scampi preparation.

Baked Shrimp Scampi – Serves 4 (inspired by this recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs 12-15 count shrimp (try and find shrimp from the US instead of Thailand if possible – better for the planet and taste amazing!), pealed and deveined
• 3 TB EVOO
• 2 TB white wine
• 8 TB butter (one stick), at room temperature
• 5-6 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 medium shallots, finely minced
• 1/3 cup minced parsley
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I like it spicy, perhaps start with 1/4 tsp)
• Juice and zest from one lemon (about 1 tsp of zest plus 2-3 TB lemon juice)
• 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• S+P to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Meanwhile, prep the shrimp – peel, devein, remove the tail and butterfly it.  Butterflying the shrimp just means cutting a slit down the back so that the shrimp can sit flat in the baking dish.

In a medium sized bowl, add the EVOO, white wine and salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp of each) and whisk together.  Add the shrimp and marinate for 10-15 minutes.

While the shrimp is marinating, its time to make the butter mixture.  Add the butter, garlic, shallots, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, panko and egg yolks, salt and pepper (another 1/2 tsp of each) to another medium bowl and stir to combine. You want to make sure you get everything evenly distributed, because while the butter will melt in the oven, you don’t want there to be one area with lots of red pepper flakes or garlic, and another with nothing.

After the shrimp has marinated, line them around the edge of the baking dish, tail side up. Pour the remaining marinade over the shrimp.

Top each baking dish with an equal amount of the butter/panko mixture.

Cook for 10-15 minutes until the shrimp have curled and are pink.