Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s day. Ours was pretty low key on the day itself, though we had a grand celebration with friends the night before. In the past we used to make reservations at some nice restaurants and go out for dinner on v-day, but it has almost always been a total disaster. Food is normally overpriced, quality is sub par and the service is guaranteed to be spotty. I think it is officially the worse night to go out for dinner, even worse than New Year’s eve. So for the past couple of years we’ve been spending V-day at home and this year was no different. Since it was Valentine’s day and since Siv made me such an awesome dinner the night before, I wanted to make something special. So we went to Pike Place Market in the afternoon and picked up a pound of what they called “Fancy Grilling Scampis“.

The word Scampi has been used in a variety of ways around the world. In Italy Scampi is used to describe Langoustines, but in the United States many restaurants call any type of shrimp a scampi. Restaurants here also use Scampi to describe a preparation of shrimp with butter and garlic and olive oil. Wikipedia describes Scampi as a type of lobster. Anyway the ones we picked up today ones were definitely not langoustines nor where they lobsters. This is what they looked like fresh, I’d just call them tiger prawns. But as confusing as it is, the good news is that this particular recipe is good for shrimp, lobster, prawns and langoustines. You will just need to adjust the cooking time according to the size.

Ingredients

• 1 lb raw scampi (tiger prawns/jumbo shrimps), deveined and in the shell
• 1/4 cup blanched and shelled almonds
• 2 tbsp sliced thinly garlic
• 1/4 cup shallots sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
• 1 tsp crushed red chilies
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• Juice and Zest from one large lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

If you buy whole prawns or scampi, get these deveined and butterflied by the butcher, leaving the shell intact.  Shell will protect the flesh from getting overcooked.  If the butcher doesn’t do it, you can butterfly the scampi by cutting almost all the way through the flesh down the center of the back to the tail, leaving the shell on.  Use the hands to flatten the scampi, as flat as it can get. Season the flesh side with salt and pepper.

Use a mortar and pestle to pound the blanched almonds to a coarse powder. Add the garlic and oregano and pound lightly to combine.

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and saute the shallots till soft. Add the almond-garlic-oregano mix and saute for a few seconds. Add the crushed red chilies and saute for a few more seconds. Add salt to taste. Now add the butter and let it melt completely on low heat. Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest and lemon juice and stir to combine. Pour this into a shallow bowl and place it in the refrigerator to cool and thicken.

Keep an oven proof pan or baking sheet that can accommodate all the scampi ready. 

In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil and cook the seasoned scampi, flesh side down for about 2-3 minute until the shells turn pink. Arrange all the scampi flesh side up on the prepared pan/baking sheet. Spoon a generous amount of the lemon-garlic-oregano-butter on top of each of the scampi and place the pan under the broiler for 2 minutes to melt the butter.

Serve hot.

Make sure you don’t overcook these, as it can go from buttery flesh to rubbery in no time. So err on the side of undercooked than overcooked, especially if the scampi/prawn is fresh.

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