Shrimp Scampified

Every few weeks from late spring to early fall, Fabian Seafood from Galveston, Texas comes to our area and sells fresh shrimp from the Gulf.  Their shrimp is flown in fresh, never frozen and sold out of the back of a truck in coolers filled with ice at 3 locations over 3 days.  Last week was their last visit for the year so I stocked up on shrimp and crab meat for crab cakes.  They sell east coast fresh crab without any preservatives and it's delicious.

Since it's been cool here lately, I decided to make my latest shrimp purchase into a comforting pasta dish.  After looking over a few recipes and picking out the parts that sounded best, I came up with a version of Shrimp Scampi that my family loved.  With the shrimp cut into pieces, every bite had a bit of shrimp and pasta.  I served it with some steamed broccoli and crusty bread with herbed olive oil for dipping. Delish!
  

Shrimp Scampified

Adapted from Here and Here
Printable Recipe

Serves 4

Important - Have everything prepped and ready to use in small bowls next to the stove before starting the shrimp.

1/4 cup of light olive oil
1 lb peeled and deveined large to jumbo shrimp, cut into half or thirds, depending on size
6 garlic cloves, minced
3/4- 1 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 very large or 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon of capers, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3/4 pound pasta - I used Mezze Rigatoni
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Lemon Wedges - Optional

Place a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil.

While the water is heating, place a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil. Sauté the shrimp, stirring once or twice until just barely cooked through for approximately 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp to a bowl and place the pan back on the heat. Add the minced garlic to the skillet and stir. Then add the wine, salt and pepper and allow to reduce for about 2 minutes or so. Add the chopped tomato and capers, stir and cook for another minute or two. Add the butter to the skillet to melt and then return the shrimp to the pan and toss. Remove from the heat.

Cook pasta according to package directions (I start the pasta while I'm working on the shrimp mixture above), remove 1/2 cup pasta cooking water with a ladle, then drain pasta. Place the drained pasta in a large bowl, add the shrimp mixture, chopped parsley and toss. Add some of the reserved pasta water and toss again.