Dinner tonight started out as the recipe I copied out of the Florida Times Union years ago (when I still lived in OP, so it had to be at least 8 years ago. They had written a story in the Food section detailing what the sailors eat on the USS John F. Kennedy. The title of that article was "Feeding a Floating City"....anyway the recipe was for Shrimp Scampi, something that they prepared for the 5000 onboard for special occassions. I have fixed that recipe two other times, and really liked it.....but tonight, I found it hard to stick to the recipe, so I created my own. It was delicious.....So here is what I did:First, preheat the oven to 350*. I decided that bacon makes everything better, so I chopped up 4 slices of bacon....I put that into my trusty Lodge iron skillet (which is my favorite cooking item at the moment!) and stirred it around for a few minutes on a medium-high heat. Then I added 1/2 stick of unsalted butter and 1 chopped medium onion. I cooked that for about 4 minutes, just until the onions were tender, then I added 2 teaspoons of minced garlic...the kind that comes in a jar with a little olive oil----it is found in the produce section of most grocery stores. Next I added 2 tablespoons of dried parsley, then the 1/2 of stick of remaining butter looked lonely, so I through it in the pan as well. Can you ever have too much butter? I stirred that up, then chopped 2 medium tomatoes, throwing them in the pan along with a tablespoon of dijon mustard, a splash of lemon juice and let all of that simmer for about 5 minutes. At that time I tasted it and added salt and pepper (and just a few red pepper flakes!!!). I had already peeled and rinsed 1 1/2 pounds of large shrimp, so I stirred them into the pan, adding 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs on the top, then into the oven for 15 minutes. Served it over steamed white rice, with crusty French bread and yummy San Sebastian Vintner's Red Wine, and it was a meal made in Heaven!!!
Once again I apologize that the photos are all after the text.....like I said, I still haven't mastered any of this.
Here is the list of ingredients for MY Shrimp Scampi:
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 t minced garlic
2 T dried parsley
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 T dijon mustard
1 t lemon juice
sprinkle of red pepper flakes, more if you like it hotter!
salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined and rinsed
Saute bacon over medium heat for 3 minutes, add 1 stick of butter and the chopped onion, stirring constantly while cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Add minced garlic, parsley, tomatoes, mustard, lemon juice, simmer for a few minutes, tasting and adding salt and pepper (and the red pepper flakes) stir in the shrimp, top with the bread crumbs and cook in oven for 15 minutes. Serve over rice. Delicious!
If you all are interested in the original USS JFK Recipe for Shrimp Scampi, here goes:
4 T butter
2 t minced garlic
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 t lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 c bread crumbs
Melt butter in a largeskillet over med-high heat. Add garlic and parsley and saute for 3 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Season shrimp with salt and pepper and place in the bottom of a 9 inch glass baking dish. Pour tomato mixture over the top, sprinkle bread crumbs and bake for 15 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings.
Happy Cooking!
