Easiest Shrimp Scampi Recipe

I made shrimp scampi for the very first time when I was very new to cooking. I was celebrating my twenty second birthday and three of my close friends and I picked out a recipe and cooked it together. We had to use a community dorm kitchen and were so proud of ourselves when we finally sat down on a floor in Kym’s dorm and gobbled up our delicious work.

It was a very involved and typical shrimp scampi recipe that involved dredging the shrimp in flour and cooking down white wine. I recently came across an shrimp scampi recipe that involved no flour or wine via Barefoot Contessa. Curious to see if it could be just delectable without the fuss, I tried her recipe and am convinced this is the easiest shrimp scampi recipe ever.

Barefoot Contessa’s Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients
Vegetable oil
Kosher salt
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions
Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.