Shrimp Scampi & Zoodles

I have posted a Shrimp Scampi recipe before, served with traditional pasta.  View it here.  Scampi is just a fancy menu recipe term that means shrimp sauteed in butter and olive oil, with white wine, lemon juice, lemon zest and Parmesan cheese.  This recipe, modified from a recipe on the website called "ClosetCooking," has one main notable difference.  There is no pasta in this dish.  Thus, if you're eating low carb or wheat or gluten-free, this is a wonderful alternative.

The rage, of course, is the zucchini "noodles" or "zoodles" making the rounds on the cooking sites on the web these days.  It requires a kitchen appliance that no doubt is responsible for the trendy idea at a time when more and more people are going gluten-free.  Why people are so concerned about gluten is beyond me.  Unless you have Celiac's Disease, which is a specific allergy to gluten, then going gluten-free is just a trend.

The kitchen appliance aforementioned is a spiral slicer that allows you to turn zucchini, carrots, cucumber and other vegetables into long strands resembling and to be used in lieu of pasta.  There are several of these on the market available through Amazon or a variety of other outlets.

I will tell you that I think using fresh lemon and fresh lemon zest, as opposed to the bottled variety of lemon juice is truly necessary to get the real garden-fresh "zing" out of this dish that we truly enjoyed.  We also used a new product on the market, partially dried parsley, which is neither fresh parsley nor dried parsley, but something in-between and which must be kept refrigerated.  This modern convenience is just as good as fresh parsley, allows you to use what you need, and you can store the rest with a reasonably long shelf life.  While more expensive than a bundle of fresh parsley, you don't have to chop it and use only what you need, with the ability to keep this stuff around a lot longer in your fridge than with fresh.  Give it a try.

Lastly, you can spiral cut your zucchini with or without the peel.  With the peel gives the zoodles more body, which is what we did.  Without the peel, the zucchini will likely cook much faster.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 lb peeled, de-veined shrimp
2 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 small or one large lemon)
2 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 pinch red pepper flakes to taste
salt & pepper to taste
2-3 medium sized zucchini, spiral cut into "zoodles"
6 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated (the Kraft green can is just fine)


The Recipe
Over medium heat, melt the butter in heated olive oil, then add the shrimp.  Stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook until the shrimp are opaque, about four minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Add the white wine and lemon juice to the pan, bring to a simmer, then add the zucchini noodles.  Cook until the zucchini is tender to your liking.  I found that four to five minutes was about right for me, but something less if you want you zucchini a bit crunchier.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the shrimp and the lemon zest, and heat through for a minute or so, then toss in the parsley at the end.

Move to two serving bowls and then top with the Parmesan cheese and a grind or two of freshly ground black pepper.