Don’t Skimp on the Scampi

Most of us are very familiar with shrimp scampi.  It is a well known and well loved Italian-American dish made with lots of garlic and olive oil, both of which are staples in ANY Italian kitchen, as well as my own kitchen (and I am not Italian).  In America, we often use shrimp instead of the tiny langoustine, as they are known in Italian or langostino in Spanish.  Scampi is Italian for langoustine which are small, tiny lobsters that are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs than either shrimp or lobsters though.  They are the most important commercial crustacean in Europe.

Scampi is traditionally cooked with the small langoustines, although here in America, we often use shrimp of all sizes too.  But what do you do when either you do not have shrimp or langoustines or do not have enough?  Make it with chicken.  Chicken scampi is just as delicious and just as flavorful as shrimp scampi.  Or, you can make it with both chicken AND shrimp, like I did, and enjoy the best of both.  I used some left over chicken and only had a few shrimp left.  Neither would have been enough for a meal on their own, but by combining them together, we had plenty, AND I created a new dish.  As I always say, be creative and work with what you have.  When cooking in my kitchen, you never know what is going to happen.  You just have to go with the flow. We enjoyed our chicken and shrimp scampi with some garlic-herb cheese bread and a delicious, crisp white blend.

IMG_3217

Lemony Chicken and Shrimp Scampi

IMG_3210

1 lb chicken, sliced

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 eggs

salt & pepper to taste

3/4 cup flour, divided

6 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP garlic

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 TBSP lemon pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes, optional

1 TBSP mixed herbs – lemon verbena, thyme, basil, chopped fine or 2 tsp dried herbs, optional

4 TBSP butter

 

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together, then coat the chicken with it.  Beat the eggs together and dip the chicken in it.   Heat 2 TBSP of the olive oil then carefully place the chicken strips into the oil and cook for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.  Remove the chicken and set aside.  Because I used chicken that was already cooked, I skipped this part.

Saute the shrimp, garlic and bell pepper in the oil and about 1/2 of the butter for about 5 minutes, or until the shrimp is completely cooked and is a nice shade of coral-pink.

IMG_3211

Add the wine and let cook for about for about 1 minute.

IMG_3212

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together well.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 5-7 minutes.

IMG_3214

When the sauce thickens to your liking, it is ready to serve.  I served it over angel hair pasta, but you can eat it on it’s own or serve it over rice too.  If you like, top it with some Parmigiano cheese and mangia!

IMG_3218

Stay safe and stay well Everyone.  ‘Til next time.

Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people.

26 thoughts on “Don’t Skimp on the Scampi”

  1. Pingback: Don’t Skimp on the Scampi — A Jeanne in the Kitchen – All About Writing and more

  9. Have you ever watched “Chopped?” It’s a show on Food Network. 4 chefs have 30 minutes to cook a meal (appetizer, dinner, dessert depending on the round) from seemingly random basket of ingredients. It seems like you might do well in such a competition, always putting weird things together and making it a cohesive dish.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I have seen it. You’d be surprised, but I actually would NOT do well on that show. As competitive as I am, I really don’t like competitions at all. Weird, I know. I love the training, NOT the competitions. My swim team and coaches could not figure that out either. In practice I would kill it. At meets, I would choke. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  12. Pingback: Elizabeth Makes the Scampi – A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s