summertime scampi
I was not into shrimp until recently, and even then I haven’t been 100% convinced. The issue is partially the texture, but also how easy they are to screw up. Most shrimp are pretty small and cook very fast, so the bullseye for getting them perfectly done without being a) wiggly and translucent or b) rubbery and tough is about the same size as the perfectly-ripe window of an out-of-season avocado. Shrimp also don’t provide great visual feedback, meaning you mostly have to guess whether the shape you’re looking at is a C (cooked) or O (overcooked), which creates a very high margin for error.
Undercooked shrimp are, at least to me, somewhat unpleasant. Unfortunately, overcooked shrimp are the fucking worst. I can deal with a little overcooked chicken here and there, and actually prefer chicken thighs to be torched somewhere in the neighborhood of 200°F to avoid the slippery experience of biting into a piece of un-rendered fat, but suffering through rigid, unyieldingly overcooked shrimp on my first shrimp attempt led me to believe what I already thought to be true: I was not a shrimp person and I never would be.
But I have never let go of the idea of shrimp. They’re quintessentially coastal, light and clean; the kind of thing you eat at sunset by the Italian seaside on a warm herbal night, feeling romantic about life and getting shell grease all over your hands. I like that they produce a discard pile of tails, visible proof that An Experience took place at the table. On principle I love anything with a taste profile described as “mineral brine.” And now that I have adjusted my Shrimp Approach, fixing all the issues I had the first try, I am absolutely confirmed to be a Shrimp Person, and I believe the highest function of shrimp is to be made into scampi—and this specific adaptation into Summertime Scampi may be my favorite in the Shrimp Person Starter Pack.
It is specifically called a Summertime Scampi because relative to other scampi, it is faster, simpler, and cooked mostly outside. The most distinctly summery element here is grilled lemon, gently used before being charred. Lemons are resilient and adaptable creatures and I find it disrespectful to waste any part of them, usually using at least the zest and juice before putting the rinds to work deodorizing the garbage disposal. So I’ve found a new way to get even more out of my used lemons: once you think you’ve got all the juice out you can get, give them a rubdown in olive oil and throw them on the grill. The high heat somehow releases all of their remaining lemon juice reserves otherwise inaccessible at room temperature, resulting in a second round of charred, ultra-sweet citrus flavor that makes this dish feel a lot more special than it rightfully is. If you have meyer lemons handy, go ahead and use them—because they have more sugar in them, they’ll actually caramelize on the grill.
It is also Summertime Scampi in that it doesn’t require you to do a whole lot, leaving you with more time to sigh, relax, and drink cold white wine outside on the patio. The catch is that due to its low cook time it also moves extremely fast, meaning you need to prepare your components in advance. Fortunately, it also has such a small number of ingredients that calling it “prep” is kind of a joke. The garlic you go through all the trouble to slice in the very first step will have a dual application: of the four cloves, three will be sautéed in butter later, and the remaining one zhuzhed into the shrimp to create a quick marinade with olive oil and salt. After a quick rest, you just thread them onto skewers, nesting them close together. At this point, you make your sauce, and keep it simmering over a very low heat.
Some unsolicited thoughts on shrimp
A lot of people have posted in blog posts about shrimp about how you should always buy frozen shrimp because it’s fresher. Though I do not have as much shrimp experience as other people, I would be inclined to think that this is true. However, you absolutely have options in the kind of shrimp you use depending on what’s available for you. I like to use gulf white shrimp I order online from Wild Fork Foods, which are sweet and mild and come in a range of sizes and preparations. Pink shrimp from Key West are supposedly the best shrimp, but they can be pricey and hard to find. Brown shrimp supposedly taste like iodine which doesn’t sound terribly appealing.
You can make this dish with tail-on or tail-off shrimp (although I think it looks nice with the tails, plus good meat hides in there which gives you something to do), and the same goes for shells, which help the shrimp retain flavor but are less convenient. If you decide to use shell-on, devein them before cooking and thread onto the skewers as written. You can serve them either peeled, or have everybody peel their own at the table; just set out a little cup for the discards if you decide to leave the casing on. However you’re shrimping, the only important thing to do is to go big: bigger shrimp cook slower and give you more margin for error, and have a meatier texture that’s better suited to scampi than the little guys, which are great for tacos or popcorn shrimp but not so much for a big dramatic garlic bath. Look for 16/20 size, which means there are between 16 and 20 to a pound: by far the most intuitive and straightforward food metric with which I have ever measured.
Some unsolicited thoughts on starch
This is by no means a pasta dish. It is a shrimp dish that I happened to photograph with pasta. Equally wonderful and on-theme for summer is grilled bread, which you can make by rubbing a little olive oil on a few thick cut slices of bread, then throwing the slices on the grill at the same time as the shrimp. Follow the directions for the sauce, and toss the shrimp in the pan before serving. If you don’t eat pasta or bread or just want to keep it light, you can also use an alternative noodle, like Palmini (I like the angel hair variety best), and substitute them for the wheat noodles—I boil mine as if they were any other pasta, so the directions are the same. Summertime Scampi does not discriminate, nor does it care which you choose. Summertime Scampi is just here to enjoy the sweet smell of the final days of summer, however they happen to pass.
RECIPE
While scampi is completely wonderful sautéed the traditional way, something about the grill flavor screams “summer is ending and I am not ready” that can only be consoled by a very lemony sauce and a glass of wine.
Effortful time: about 10 minutes
Total time: maybe 20 minutes
Serves 2 comfortably and doubles easily, feel free to scale up or down by a shrimp or two
you need
10 tail-on, peeled and deveined raw shrimp, 16/20 size
1 tsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil + an extra drizzle for the lemons
Pinch of chili flakes
1/4 cup lillet blanc or white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice + 1/2 tsp. of zest
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, which is about 1/2 a small bunch
Salt and pepper, to taste
Serve with…
Big, thick-cut slices of bread, one per person
8 oz of long, delicate pasta like egg linguine, tagliatelle, or angel hair
Or whatever pasta alternative you like, cooked according to the directions
Make it
Do some prep. This dish comes together really fast, so it’s important to have everything ready to go. Thinly slice 4 cloves of garlic, and roughly chop your parsley. Set both aside. Zest a lemon (a few rasps on a microplane is fine), slice it in half, and squeeze out the juice. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil onto the cut and squeezed-out halves of the lemon; you’ll put these on the grill. Now thread shrimp onto skewers so they “nest” together. This is an optional step, but it helps to turn them over fast.
Fire up the grill to 450°F, medium-high heat. Clean and oil the grates. Set salted water to boil for pasta.
Optional: starch time! This is not a pasta recipe, but I imagine you may want to make it with pasta. If that’s the case, here are some helpful timing tips.
When to put your pasta in depends on how long your pasta takes to cook, and whether you’re cooking solo or partnered. If you’ve got extra hands or a pasta shape that takes 12 or more minutes to cook, put it in just before you grill the shrimp and start your sauce simultaneously. If you’re going solo, have a faster-cooking pasta, or are at all nervous about hitting your timing and have similar aversions to overcooked stuff, you can put the pasta in once you’ve turned the shrimp over and simply let them rest while you make your sauce and finish your dish. I did the latter to make sure it worked.
If you’d prefer grilled bread, you can skip all this: just brush two slices of thick-cut bakery bread with olive oil. Grill these alongside the shrimp and sprinkle with flaky salt.
Grill the shrimp and the lemon halves. Throw your shrimpy bad bois on the grill for 2 minutes, along with the lemons, cut side down. Turn over and cook until they reach 120°F, which takes another 2 minutes. There will be a lot of carryover cooking happening on the shrimp. Set aside.
Build your sauce. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat, then swirl in the olive oil. Sauté the sliced garlic until fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Add the chili flakes, then deglaze with the Lillet Blanc or white wine. Simmer to reduce at least 2 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and zest and adjust for salt. If you’re making pasta, simmer it until your pasta is 2 minutes under al dente. Use tongs to move the pasta directly into the skillet and scoop over some pasta water. Simmer til the pasta is fully al dente and you have a nice glossy sauce.
Finish and serve. Add the cooked shrimp to the skillet and gently fold together with the sauce, with or without pasta. Give everything a nice parsley shower and serve straight from the pan.