Passports out, Seafoodies!
Every pescatarian journey needs a first stamp, and for most people it’s shrimp. It’s the seafood America eats more of than any other, it’s already in most freezers and it asks almost nothing of the cook—two to three minutes of heat and it’s done. Shrimp is where many new pescatarians land first, and our Shrimp Scampi Skewers are the welcome recipe we’d hand anyone stepping off the plane!
A little travel history on the dish itself. In Italy, scampi refers to langoustines, the small sweet cousins of the lobster. When Italian immigrants arrived in America and couldn’t find them, they kept the garlic, butter, wine and lemon and swapped in the shrimp that were everywhere. The result became one of the most beloved seafood dishes in the country, which makes shrimp scampi a fitting first stop—a recipe that was itself a swap to begin with.
Our version starts with butter, garlic and a splash of white wine simmered together in a skillet until the kitchen smells like an Italian trattoria. Meanwhile, the shrimp get threaded onto skewers with lemon slices tucked between them, seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes and sent to the grill, where a few minutes over the flames give them a light char and a snap a sauté pan can’t quite match. Brush the warm garlic butter over the skewers as they come off the heat, shower them with fresh parsley and dinner is served. Start to finish, you’re looking at about 20 minutes, and an indoor grill pan can absolutely handle the job on rainy or cold nights.
The nutritional benefits are solid, as well. A 3-ounce serving of shrimp brings roughly 20 grams of lean protein along with selenium, vitamin B-12 and iodine, and frozen shrimp match fresh nutritionally, so a bag in the freezer means these skewers are always an option. Plus, shrimp is an easy seafood sell for those who aren’t Seafoodies yet—familiar enough for kids, satisfying enough for grown-ups and fun to eat straight off a skewer. A 20-minute dinner that people request again and again is exactly the kind of recipe that keeps seafood nights starred on the calendar at our house.
Once that first pescatarian passport stamp is in, your itinerary opens up. The same garlic-wine butter and the same grill welcome scallops, chunks of salmon or firm white fish and mixing a couple of species on one skewer is one of the easiest ways to introduce something new alongside an old favorite. Add cherry tomatoes or zucchini between the shrimp for a full plate, pile everything over rice or orzo and spoon any leftover sauce over the top. Serve with crusty bread for the drippings—the Italian-American tradition wouldn’t want it any other way.
Bon voyage!
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Shrimp Scampi Skewers
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
Shrimp Scampi Skewers Ingredients:
- 1 pound raw large or jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails left on or off)
- 3 lemons, sliced into thin half moons (or wedges)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
- Garlic parsley butter (see ingredients below)
Garlic Parsley Butter Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley, loosely packed
Instructions
- First, prepare the garlic parsley butter. Heat butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat until melted. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add in the white wine, and stir to combine.
- Remove from heat and stir in the chopped fresh parsley. Use within 15 minutes, or pop the saute pan back on the stove (or microwave) for an additional minute just before serving to re-melt the butter.
- When you are ready to make the skewers, heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat.
- Thread the shrimp and sliced lemons onto skewers. Sprinkle evenly with the salt, black pepper and crushed red peppers.
- Then place on grill for 3-4 minutes per side, until the shrimp are pink and no longer opaque. Remove shrimp from the grill, and brush liberally with the parsley butter and squeeze the grilled lemons over the shrimp.
- Serve immediately.
- Category: Shrimp
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