... Recipe of the Week ...

Last week, while eating my lunch in the studio in front of the TV, I switched over to the Food Network channel. (Day time television stinks. I give mad kudos to those people that stay home all day and actually try to watch TV.) Barefoot Contessa was the show.

My first impression of Barefoot Contessa is all her recipes are overly rich and fattening (something I do not need). But surprisingly after watching her make this easy baked shrimp scampi, I was inspired to try it. I immediately looked up the recipe online and printed it off to try. However! Her recipe was made to serve 6 people. That is 4 more servings than I needed. (I let my room mate be my guinea pig when it comes to trying these recipes.) So! I halfed the recipe, which ended up being perfect for serving 3. So guess what is for lunch?! Left overs!

Here is the recipe halfed for all of you non-6 member families:

Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Baked Shrimp Scampi

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Level: Easy
Cook Time: Approximately 15-20 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients:
1 lbs (12-15 per lbs) shrimp in shell
(For all of you like myself, who are totally clueless to this, I just grabbed a bag of frozen medium shrimp, that looked like the bag was well full.)
1.5 tbs olive oil
1 tbs dry white wine (you probably could get away without this)
6 tbs unsalted butter
2 tsp minced garlic (the recipe suggested fresh, but i already had minced garlic in a jar i bought at the local market)
1/8 cup minced shallots (approximately 1/2 a shallot)
1.5 tbs minced fresh parsley
1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (be sure to do this before juicing the lemon)
1 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup panko (Japanese Dried Bread Flakes)
(You can find these in the international isle at the market)

Dish:
Baking dish approximately 6" - you will need enough room to spread your shrimp around to make 1 layer (I used a round pyrex dish that is oven safe - thanks mom for the pyrex set!)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Peel, devein (if you want - doesn't change the taste, just the look) and butterfly the shrimp (You can sometimes find the shrimp already butterflied if you buy them frozen. I used frozen shrimp.) Leaving tails on. (I took the tails off, who wants to eat shrimp scampi and have to worry about picking around the tails?!)

Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl and toss gently with the olive oil, wine (I didn't have the dry white wine, but had some tropical Arbor Mist in my refrigerator that I used instead. It still turned out terrific), 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Allow to sit at room temperature while you make the butter and garlic mixture.

In a small bowl, mash the softened butter (if it is still cold, put it in the microwave for 1 minute on 3 power - works like a charm) with the garlic, shallots, parsley, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolk, panko, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper until combined.

Starting from the outer edge, place shrimp in a single layer. (I laid them out so that they leaned up against each other like a bunch of dominos had just fallen) Pour the remaining marinade over the shrimp. Spread the butter mixture evenly over the shrimp. (Easier said than done, it was more or less little globs of the butter mixture. It works best, if you use a fork to break up the mixture and use it to fork out small globs of the butter mixture on top.)

Bake 15-20 minutes. It will depend upon the size of your shrimp. I would start with 15 minutes and then check it and keep adding 3-5 minutes on until the shrimp are completely cooked.

Recommended to serve with lemon wedges.
(TASTE IT FIRST! I tasted it and did not feel that it needed any more lemon seasoning.)

Serve with rice or pasta.

I served mine up with rice I made in the rice cooker (thanks dad! I never thought it would become such a handy appliance!) and served peas as a veggie to go with.