Shrimp scampi is a go-to meal for us! I know how that might sound, are you thinking, "whoa! that's quite a fancy-schmancy go-to meal!"?
But it's really a super simple dish with just a few ingredients. I mean: pasta, butter, lemon and shrimp! So simple but so delicious! Its really a no-brainer!
This time around I wanted to play around with the recipe by adding scallops! I hardly cook scallops, because they always seem to be so delicate. But we bought some fresh scallops from our local fish market and with careful attention while cooking, they turned out great!
Tip for Cooking Scallops
For anyone, looking for a trick to cooking scallops, just watch them! They cook very quickly, similar to shrimp. You want to wait until they get a nice sear on both sides and they are no longer translucent. But no more than 5 minutes, otherwise you will have tough scallops. Once the scallops and shrimps have cooked, remove them from the pan to prevent over cooking! (That's really the worst: overcooking seafood!)
A Healthier Scampi Sauce
For the scampi sauce, I prefer to cut down the amount of butter used. Many scampi recipes I've found use a very generous amount of butter, which is what makes scampi dishes you eat out at restaurants taste so amazing! But on a regular basis, that amount of butter can be artery clogging! Not only that, but I found it to just be too much for myself. So I cut down on it by at least half. But I retain the flavor by keeping up the amount of fresh garlic going into the sauce (actually I may add more just amp up the garlic flavor)
Now its definitely a matter of preference, if you prefer more butter or garlic add to your own preference, you just want to make a delicious sauce to swirl the noodles around in!
Other than the butter and garlic, the scampi sauce is just: onions, lemon juice and lemon zest. Once the sauce is done, just return the shrimp and scallops back the pan and add the pasta!
Recipe adapted from: Shrimp Scampi Recipe
Shrimp and Scallop Scampi
Ingredients
- 1 lb any noodle pasta Spaghetti, Angel Hair, Linguini
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb shrimp fresh or frozen and defrosted, cleaned, peeled and deveined
- ½ lb scallops fresh or frozen and defrosted, cleaned
- 1 onion finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- ½ cup dry white wine optional, you can use chicken stock as well
- juice of 1 lemon
- zest of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup parsley finely chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta as per the directions on the package. Drain and set aside.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in large saute pan over medium high heat. As the butter melts, add in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add the shrimp and scallops to the butter and oil. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, just until you see the sear on the outside. Scallops should be slightly browned on the outside and opaque on the inside. Shrimp should be pink and opaque. Remove from pan and set aside once they are cooked.
- Add the remaining butter and olive oil to the pan. Add the diced onions and let cook about 2 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in the white wine and lemon juice, let simmer for about 2-3 minutes to reduce the liquid.
- Once the liquid has come to a simmer, add in the lemon zest and return the shrimp and scallops to the pan.
- Add the cooked pasta and garnish with parsley.
Silpa
Shrimp scampi looking delicious. Colorful and yummy. Loving it.
jill.patel
Thanks Silpa! Hope you like it!
Rajinder Singh
Love it. It's a colourfull dish. I don't think that it is easy to cook. WIll take long time. But, i will try to make atleast once.
jill.patel
Thank you! It is quite easy and quick to make actually! Just make sure the prep the ingredients beforehand and the dish will come together in less than 15 minutes.
Sunil Dogra
It look yummy. What an awesome combination of flavors. Thanks for sharing. I will definitely this try.
Becky
Excellent recipe!!! Followed your directions. Only change was I added some broccoli. Super easy and tasty Thanks for sharing will make again.
jill.patel
Thanks so much trying it out and super excited that you liked it! I love the addition of the broccoli, makes it even healthier!
Elyse
Pretty good, I used bay scallops and they never seared, so definitely use large scallops. Also not near enough sauce.. I would double it. Thanks.
Jill Patel
Thanks for trying it and the recommendation. Since the sauce is so buttery, I prefer that it just coats the pasta but you can def make more of it to your preference.