I’ve been catching some heat recently for not posting anything in a few weeks. In my defense, I have been super busy, basically just using my house as a place to sleep, and I haven’t been cooking anything other than roasted veggies and rice (my go-to easy meal that I will eventually get around to posting). So finally, last week I forced myself to cook something blog worthy.
I found this recipe for a lighter version of shrimp scampi on JustaTaste.com and tweaked it just a tiny bit. I loved the idea of swapping out the pasta with spiral cut zucchini and definately appreciated cutting out the mass of butter that shrimp scampi is usually made with. Zucchini noodles are one of my greatest discoveries, I can subsitute zucchini noodles for almost every pasta dish. There’s a great zucchini noodle recipe with homemade red sauce that I’ll blog someday. A spiral cutter does a great magic trick turning a normal zucchini into a pile of zucchini ribbons, I have the GEFU Spirelli Spiral Slicer
One of the other great thing about this recipe is that is calls for wine. As I was looking into what kind of wine I wanted to use with this I came across a website that said you should never cook with wine you wouldn’t drink. The point this guy was making was that you shouldn’t cook with crappy wine because as it reduces the flavor concentrates and the flavors will come through in the food. It also occurred to me that you shouldn’t cook with wine you wouldn’t drink because your recipe is likely to only call for a small portion of the bottle, leaving the rest left for drinking. I finally settled on a sauvignon blanc, well actually a chenin blanc because it was on sale at Cub.
Step one: pour yourself a glass of the wine.
Cheers!
Here’s what else you need:
I started by spiraling my zucchinis. It is really easy, you just twist the zucchini into the spiral slicer.
A lovely pile of zucchini ribbons! These get really long, so I usually cut the strands in half so they are easier to eat in the end. You can do this with a pair of clean kitchen scissors, a knife, or just break them with your hands.
I’m in love with garlic so I decided to microplane my garlic instead of mincing it like the recipe said. If you use a garlic press, or in my case a microplane (#EarnsCommission), you release more of the garlic oils and end up with a stronger garlic flavor, compared to mincing or chopping garlic (a little tip I learned from one of my cooking magazines). When you’ve prepared your garlic how ever suits you, it’s time to saute it with the red pepper flakes, another one of my favorite ingredients. I probably cooked the garlic and red pepper for about a minute, be careful not to let the garlic brown to much or it will get bitter.
Next add the shrimp, I usually take the tails off, but decided to leave them on this time, in the name of fanciness. Cook the shrimp until they turn pink and opaque, maybe about 3-5 minutes, stirring or flipping them occasionally. When the shrimp are done, take them out and set them aside.
Now add the wine and lemon juice to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Then add the zucchini noodles, and do your best to stir them around (it’s sort of difficult – tossing them with tongs is a good option). I put a cover on and cooked them for about 5 minutes, I sort of lost track of time and maybe over did them a bit, 3 minutes probably would’ve been better. It all depends on the consistency you want, I was going for a softer noodle, which is what I got, but they ended up looking kind of funny and a bit wilted. Last step is to add the shrimp back in, again doing your best to stir everything together and sprinkle a bit of the chopped parsley on top.
I shredded some Parmesan cheese on top once I got it into my bowl and had intentions of zesting some lemon on top as well, but completely forgot.
Now grab your glass of wine (or pour your self another) and enjoy! This makes pretty decent left overs also.
- 1 pound of raw jumbo shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 2 medium zucchini
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ c. dry white wine (such as sauvignon blanc)
- 2T chopped fresh parsley
- 5 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1/2t red pepper flakes
- grated parmesan cheese
- 2T olive oil
- Start by using a spiral cutter to turn the zucchinis into noodles
- Saute the garlic and red pepper in the olive oil over medium heat, for about 2 minutes
- Add the shrimp, cooking until the shrimp are pink and opaque, about 5 minutes, remove the shrimp and set aside
- Add the wine and lemon juice, cooking over medium heat for about 2 minutes
- Add the zucchini noodles, stir with other ingredients, cover and cook for about 3 minutes
- Add the shrimp, toss to combine
- Sprinkle parsley, parmesan cheese, and lemon zest over the top
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