For years my favorite item on the menu at Red Lobster was their shrimp scampi. I had looked far and wide to find a way to have good shrimp scampi at home, but nothing could hold a candle to the perfect deliciousness of that found in my favorite restaurant.
I tried all the "prefab" types of scampi in a bag that I could find at grocery stores, tried many different recipes that I found online and just couldn't get the taste I was looking for. Sometimes I thought I had it pretty close, but then we would go to Red Lobster again and I would find out that theirs was still better than anything I had yet been able to make.
Then one day I decided to just trust my taste buds and stop listening to what everyone else was telling me to put in it. I tried several different wines, different ways of preparing the garlic, what type of butter to use and how much of each. Then one day I got it close. I mean real close. In fact, I thought it just might be as good as what they serve at Red Lobster, and after making it several times for my wife and our kids and a few times for our extended family, it got rave reviews. I couldn't wait for the next opportunity to go back to Red Lobster and compare.
Since the closest Red Lobster is 180 miles away, it was a while before we got to go and when we finally did I realized that my own recipe was in fact better, (my humble opinion). I was elated. Not only did I think it was better, but my wife also agreed. Of course there will be plenty of people to disagree, but that's what makes life fun. There is enough variety out there to please everyone's taste.
If you would like to try my recipe, then below I reveal my own "secret".
First of all, there are only 4 main ingredients not counting the shrimp. Wine, Butter, Garlic and Cheese.
Wine:
Of all the wines I tried, Chardonnay was the winner. Some people say that "unoaked" Chardonnay is best for shrimp, but I have used both and it is hard to tell the difference in the prepared dish. However, if you can tell a difference, simply go with the one you like best.
Butter:
The best butter is unsalted sweet cream butter. The salted sweet cream butter variety adds too much salt for this delicate dish and in my opinion, subdues some of the flavors.
Garlic:
I tried garlic powder, granulated garlic, mincing my own fresh garlic and finally settled on the bottled variety of minced garlic. Not the dry garlic that you find on the spice rack, but the fresh minced kind that must be refrigerated after opening.
Cheese:
Most shrimp scampi recipes that you'll find won't use cheese, but Red Lobster uses fresh grated Parmesan cheese in their recipe and that is one of the key factors of flavor in this dish. I used Parmesan cheese exclusively, until one day I decided to try the 5 Italian cheese blend. It consists of mozzarella, Provolone, Romano, Asiago and Parmesan cheeses. The Asiago is what made me try it. Asiago tastes a lot like Parmesan cheese but is a lot more pungent. Using Asiago cheese by itself was a little too overpowering for this dish, but the 5 cheese blend was perfect.
Parsley:
The reason parsley was not mentioned in the list of main ingredients is because with your eyes closed, you cannot tell whether or not there is parsley in the dish. It is only used for looks, so if you don't want to use parsley it won't change the flavor. If you do use it, simply sprinkle on a small amount of the dried variety before placing it in the oven.
This recipe is for a 12 oz package of medium-large shrimp. The shrimp I use is frozen, peeled and deveined with tail still on. It comes in 12 oz bags in the freezer section of your grocery store. (Walmart in my case)
Directions:
1. With paper towels, dry the thawed shrimp and place them one layer deep in the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish. One 12 oz package fits perfectly in a 2 quart dish which measures 8" x 8" for a square dish or 6" x 10" for an oblong dish.
2. Pour enough wine over the shrimp to only cover the bottom 1/4 to the bottom 1/2 of the shrimp. In other words, do not cover the shrimp completely. With all the shrimp fitting tightly together, the entire layer of shrimp should be no more than half way submersed in wine.
3. Evenly sprinkle on (with your fingers) 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of minced garlic, depending on how well you like garlic. I use 3 :)
4. Half stick (1/4 cup) of unsalted butter. Straight out of the fridge you can easily cut the butter into small pieces over the shrimp.
5. Sprinkle on the cheese just thick enough that you can still see a scattering of shrimp through it.
6. Shake on the parsley lightly, this is only for looks.
Baking: (Actually Broiling)
Set your oven to broil. If your oven is electric, put your oven rack on the second from the top position so that the shrimp will be closer (but not too close) to the top heating element. If you have a gas oven, you will place it in the broiler drawer beneath the flame.
Set a timer for 6 minutes. You don't want to overcook the shrimp. Shrimp is tender when done perfectly, but gets tough like lobster when overcooked. After 6 minutes, keep an eye on the shrimp. If tails are sticking up they will brown and may even start to burn as will high parts of the cheese, but this is OK. You will know the shrimp is done when it has reached a pinkish orange color. For this reason, I like to use a clear baking dish.
Serve hot and Enjoy!
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