Shrimp Scampi

We had a VERY busy week and to be honest, I was scrambling a couple of nights to get dinner on the table. On those crazy days, it's so easy to head to a restaurant for dinner and believe me, sometimes it's what's happening because I just don't want to deal with cooking. Recently though, in order to curb over spending and eating out, I came up with a list of recipes of our favorite restaurant dishes and turned them into 30 minute meals. I made a shopping list for each of my recipes, stocked my pantry with staple ingredients and scheduled out my easy dinners for the month. So far, this plan is working beautifully! I'll be sharing more of my meal planning strategy over the next couple of weeks but for now, let's kick things off with an easy, luscious dish ~ Shrimp Scampi.

Shrimp Scampi

1 pound peeled and cleaned shrimp
2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoon butter
dash of red pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic - minced
3/4 cup of white wine or chicken stock
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper
1 lb of spaghetti pasta

• Place shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning. Set aside to marinate.
• Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a cast iron skillet. When butter is melted, add shrimp. Cook shrimp, searing on each side until they are done (they will turn pink in color.) Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.
• Reduce heat to low. Add additional 2 tablespoons of butter to skillet. When butter is melted, scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan. Add white wine and stir sauce. Continue to cook sauce, letting it reduce while pasta cooks.
• Heat water in a large pot and cook spaghetti per package directions for "al dente" doneness. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of cooking water.
• Add lemon juice to sauce in skillet, stirring to incorporate. Add shrimp along with any juices back into to sauce.
• Add pasta into skillet with shrimp. Stir to coat spaghetti with sauce. If sauce is too think or tight, add 1/4 cup of pasta and stir.
• Taste and season with salt and pepper.