Rosemary Shrimp Scampi with Fettuccine Pasta

Hello everyone,

If there's one thing you should all know about me, it's that I can't stand seafood. I don't know if it's the fishy smell, or the... okay, I know it is the fishy smell. You know, they do say that smell makes up half of your taste perception so there's not much I can do about it.

All of my childhood though, my mom made sure to give me an extra large helping of fish. She would watch me eat it until I finished every last bit. The only part I could ever manage to sneak to my cats was the skin, and I'm sure that too was only because she allowed it. The only seafood my mom couldn't make me eat was shrimp. I think I was ten when my mom brought home a bag of fresh shrimp from the grocery store. She was going to make shrimp chow mein or something equally amazing I'm sure. She asked me to shell it and clean it. I remember asking her what the weird smelling black string that I pulled out of the shrimp was. Lemme just say that I didn't eat the shrimp
chow mein that night and I haven't touched shrimp since then.

That is, until a couple weeks of ago when I made this dish. My mother had some shrimp laying around - the peeled and pre-cleaned variety - and asked me to do something about it. I had always wanted to try scampi and I knew how much my siblings love shrimp, so I decided to make shrimp scampi. The lovely aroma of onions fried in butter and combination of lemon juice and rosemary completely covered up any fishy smell of the shrimp.

If you're like me and don't like seafood, I'm seriously going to urge you to try this recipe. It is definitely worth a try. And if you find that shrimp still isn't your thing, your siblings may just devour your serving as well (like mine did).

Rosemary Shrimp Scampi with Fettuccine Pasta
Serves 6

1 pound of fettuccine pasta
5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large white onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound large shrimp, deveined and peeled
2 lemons, juiced
3 dashes hot sauce
red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt to taste
chopped fresh or dried basil leaves to taste
fresh rosemary leaves to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)

Boil water for the pasta and cook the pasta according to the directions on the box or until cooked al dente. Drain it, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Meanwhile soak the shrimp in ice cold water.

Heat the olive oil and melt the butter in large skillet over medium heat until they are well combined.

Add the onions and garlic and cook for two or three minutes, or until the onions are translucent.

Add the now drained shrimp, then stir and cook for a couple of minutes. When the shrimp is a light pink color on one side, flip them over and cook the other side. Make sure you don't over cook it because it will still cook with the other ingredients.

Squeeze in lemon juice. Add the red pepper, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir and reduce heat to low. Sprinkle the rosemary and basil on top.

 
Remove the skillet from heat. Toss the pasta in, adding a splash of pasta water if it needs to be thinned. Taste the pasta for seasonings, adding salt and pepper if needed.

Top with grated Parmesan and some more rosemary. Serve immediately with halved lemons/limes.

Enjoy! And don't forget to follow me on Instagram @warif93