Friday Night - Shrimp Scampi over Linguine

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who love lots of garlic and those who lead boring lives! Fortunately for me, my wife loves garlic as much as I do. If you love garlic then a scampi dish is a must on you list of dinners. Please don't confuse this with some overcooked shrimp drowning in butter in a small dish (you know which establishment I mean!) That's not shrimp scampi.

You'll need some medium size uncooked shrimp. Fresh is always better but, unless you live near a coast, you'll have to do with frozen. Just make sure that the bag of frozen shrimp is not a singular block of shrimp and ice. That means that it has thawed and been refrozen, and you never know how long it was thawed or how warm it got.

Of course you'll need some garlic. There's no firm rule on how much garlic your scampi dish needs. It's your dinner so you make it however you want. As a starting point I use four large cloves of fresh garlic for a pound of shrimp. Additionally you will need 2tbs butter (notice, only 2 tbs butter), 2tbs olive oil, 1/4c lemon juice, 1/4c dry white wine, and some salt and black pepper.

So here's what you do:

• Start heating some water for the linguine (remember to cover the pot.)
• Coarsely chop the garlic.
• Melt about 2 tbs butter in a deep saute pan with about 2 tbs olive oil.
• Turn the heat to medium low and add the garlic. If the heat is too high the garlic will burn and burned garlic is bitter. If your garlic ever burns just toss it out with the oil and butter and start again. You want to soften the garlic. This will impart a very mellow flavor. Properly cooked garlic isn't bitter and doesn't have a bite.
• When you add the pasta to the boiling water it's time to add the thawed shrimp (which you shelled, deveined, and patted dry) in one layer to the saute pan.
• When the shrimp is pink on one side turn it over.
• When the shrimp is pink and opaque and the lemon juice and the wine to the saute pan. Turn the heat to medium.
• Drain the linguine and add it to the saute pan tossing it lightly and coating it with the liquid.
• Serve immediately!