baked shrimp scampi

Being a fan of Barefoot Contessa, I was happy to receive latest book Back to Basics as a gift. When I got it yesterday, I immediately started to look through it for tonight's dinner. I like how each chapter starts with 10 Things- 10 no-cook things to serve for dessert, set a table like a pro, etc. The pictures are beautiful and every recipe looks DELICIOUS.

For my first 'back to basics' attempt, I made baked shrimp scampi. Looks pretty good, eh! I don't think I've had shrimp scampi before. At least, I wasn't aware of it.

Luckily, I already had all the ingredients (even 2 pounds of shrimp) so no trips to the grocery store were necessary. I was missing the fresh herbs (NOTE TO SELF: start an herb garden) but for some odd reason, I had their dry counterparts. For every tablespoon of fresh herbs, you can substitute with 1 teaspoon of dried herbs. Don't attempt this if you are worried about fat intake either... it's loaded with butter.



You'll need 2 pounds shrimp (peeled, deveined, and butterflied with tails left on), 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons dry white wine, salt and pepper, 1 1/2 sticks softened butter, 4 teaspoons/ cloves minced garlic (if you're like me, you add a little extra), 1/4 cup/ 4 minced shallots, 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves, 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 XL egg yolk, and 2/3 cup panko.



Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine the shrimp, olive oil, wine, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of butter.



In another mixing bowl, combine the butter, garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, panko, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.



In a baking dish, arrange the shrimp in a single layer cut side down with the tails curling up and toward the center of the dish. Pour any remaining marinade over the shrimp.



Spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp. Then bake for 10-13 minutes. I like the top browned so I placed it under the broiler for a couple minutes, too.



Here's the finished product. Doesn't look quite like Ina's but I'm sure it's because I didn't have the 14 inch dish the recipe called for. All in the same, it was amazing and I'll definitely have to do it again. With my Asian nature, I ate it with steamed white rice. I do that with almost everything.