Easy, Cheap, & Healthy Shrimp Scampi...YES! I said Shrimp Scampi!

This recipe is SO simple, SO cheap, SO delicious, AND is actually pretty HEALTHY! Woo-HOO!

I found this recipe originally from “Ten Dollar Dinners” on Food Network, however I tweaked it quite a bit. Feel free to experiment!

This is great to make for a fancy dinner at home, if you want to impress company, if you’re on a budget, or whatever! It is just delicious!

The sauce is made from shrimp stock and pasta water, so there is not very much fat, sodium, or added calories! SCORE!Also, lots of great protein from the shrimp and good carbs from the pasta! YUM!

Total Time: 30 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 5 garlic cloves,
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I like mine spicy! But be careful you don’tneed a lot at all!)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound medium shrimp (I used frozen shrimp! Just make sure they have the shells still)
• 1/4 onion
• 3/4 pound thin linguine
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small bunch parsley, leaves chopped and ½ lemon, juiced (optional if you’re feeling fancy!)

Directions

Marinate the shrimp:

Peel the shrimp and SAVE THE SHELLS! You will need them later! Finely mince the garlic. Combine the shrimp, garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and  pepper, to taste in a bowl and stir to coat the shrimp. Set aside to marinate.

 

Make a quick shrimp stock:

Roughly chop the onion (don’t worry if they look pretty or not, we won’t be eating them at all, they are just for flavor) Combine onion, the left over shrimp shells, and some water in a small pot, over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into a bowl and discard the shells and the onion.

Cook the pasta:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and add some olive oil (and salt if you’d like). Add the linguine and cook until just tender, 2 minutes less than instructed on the package. You will need to save some of this water as well! Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.

Cook the shrimp:

Transfer the shrimp and marinade to a skillet and cook over a high heat. Cook until the shrimp turn pink (about 4 minutes). Remove the shrimp from heat.

 

Combine pasta and Shrimp:

Now the tricky part is getting everything timed perfectly. Once you have drained the pasta, put it back in the pot and add 1 cup of the shrimp stock and about 1/2 cup pasta water. Continue to cook over a high heat until the sauce reduces by half. Add the butter (and the parsley and lemon if you’re using it) and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. Add in the shrimp and pasta and toss to combine with the sauce.

Serve and enjoy!