Christmas Shrimp Scampi
One of the best parts of growing up with an Italian influence was Christmas eve food. In Italy, it’s traditional to celebrate Christmas with the Feast of the Fish. The dishes are pretty intense. Scungili (eel- yuck!) is a big one in some parts of Italy. Rather, my mom took the tradition she grew up with and served a hodgepodge of seafood every Christmas eve. We would normally have shrimp cocktail, crab, sometimes lobster, and always shrimp scampi. Always.
When I was a kid, we’d pile in the car on Christmas Eve night, go to church early, come home and she would whip up a buttery batch of scampi for dinner. It was one of the only things my mom could cook well. (The Italian cooking gene must skip generations.)
And fortunately, she did cook this meal well. This meal was sheer torture on all fronts, but it was so worth it.
The first part of the torture: back in the day, when I was a kid, they must not have sold cleaned shrimp. I remember spending Christmas eve day at the kitchen table with my mom and my aunt cleaning and peeling shrimp. It felt like it took hours. Literally hours.
Second part of the torture: waiting for it to be made. The scampi never took long after the shrimp was peeled. But the thing was, immediately after we ate dinner, we’d have our family gift exchange. So of course, dinner felt like it took FOREVER.
But, like any dish made with tons of butter and garlic, it was delicious. We loved it. My cousins would beg her to make it again the next day. And sometimes the following day.
So, ultimately it was worth it.
My husband and I have continued the fish tradition on Christmas Eve. We like to have a quiet day at home (though the quiet part is debatable now with a toddler) before all the craziness of Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day. We normally make some form of shrimp scampi, but try to make it more festive than this Chipotle Shrimp Scampi that we enjoy at other times.
This Christmas shrimp scampi is all kinds of delicious. It’s not the basic shrimp scampi dish that my mom served, though it does have its fair share of buttery, garlicky goodness just like my mom’s. We just dressed it up with asparagus and red peppers. You know, Christmas colors? That and added deliciousness.
It’s the perfect precursor to salted caramel chocolate chip butter bars.
Fortunately, making this dish doesn’t feel nearly as painful as waiting for the Christmas shrimp scampi of the past. These days I buy pre cleaned shrimp. Plus I have considerably more patience when it comes to presents.
Maybe…
Ingredients
- 1 pound of shrimp precleaned
- 1 pound of asparagus cut into thirds, with the white stalk removed
- 2 red peppers chopped
- 1 1/2 cups of white wine
- 6 tablespoons of butter
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- the juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
- fresh parsley for garnish
- 1 pound of pasta- spaghetti linguine, or angel hair
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking:
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the asparagus, seasoning with salt and pepper and crushed garlic cloves. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the pepper and cook 2-3 additional minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add the shrimp to the skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook approximately 90 seconds. Add the wine and the lemon juice, bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. At this time the shrimp should be pink on both sides.
- Pour the shrimp and vegetables over the drained pasta, tossed with parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
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It’s like you’re inside my head. Shrimp Scampi is probably one of my favorite meals. I will definitely be trying this recipe!
xo, Amanda | http://www.thegoldengirldiary.com
Mine too. You just can’t go wrong with a good scampi!
My kids love shrimp, and I am cooking that for dinner tonight. Love your receipe, will definitely have to try it.
Hope you enjoy!
What an awesome idea!!! YUM!
Thank you!
Growing up, we always had shrimp scampi as a part of our Christmas Eve 7 fishes dinner as well! It’s always been one of my favorites. Yours looks delicious!
Such a fun Christmas Eve tradition isn’t it?
Shrimp scampi is one our to go meals. Comes together so easily . I am going to try your version.
Thanks Syama! Enjoy!
Mmm so delicious. It’s past dinner time and I want to eat again!!!
Oh man that happens to me every night when I scroll through Instagram. The struggle is so real!
Wow! This looks so delicious. Shrimp is a favorite at our house. These bowls are beautiful!
Thank you!
This looks like an amazing recipe! I love trying new dishes and will have to give this one a try soon! Thank you for sharing this great shrimp scampi recipe!
Enjoy!
Oh, this look SO good! Love shrimp scampi!
Thank you!
Well THAT looks delicious!!
Thank you!
shrimp is my favorite! this looks so delicious. gorgeous photos too!
Thank you! <3
YUM! I love shrimp scampi. My dad did a lot of shrimping and I was totally shocked that they had their heads on! I get my shrimp de-headed, but there is nothing like buying the shrimp and cooking it the same day it is caught. Your dish is so festive and colorful. I love that you used asparagus!
Oh gosh I can’t even imagine that. I thought peeling them was bad enough but chopping their heads off? But yes, I agree fresh probably tastes so good!
I forgot…those bowls are so unusual. I love them!
Thanks! My friend is cleaning out her house to move and was getting rid of them. I have no idea where she got them!
That looks so delicious! I will have to make this very soon!
Thank you!
This is a beautiful dish. I love all the veggies and fresh ingredients you used.
Thank you Kimberly!
Oh my gosh this looks so good!!! I wanna make this like right now.
Thanks Bella!
This looks incredibly delicious! I have never made shrimp scampi before but I will have to try it out! Thanks for sharing!
It’s so easy! If you like shrimp, then this is a great thing to know how to cook because it feels fancy schmancy but it takes under 30 minutes to make!
I love how you put a Christmas twist on one of my absolute favorite recipes!
I love Shrimp Scampi and this one looks amazing! I’m going to have to try this!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
Shrimp scampi is basically the only way I eat shrimp. Your recipe sounds delicious!
Thank you!
This looks so delicious. I love anything with shrimp in it. I’m supposed to bring a dish to my family Christmas dinner and I think this might be the winner!
Oh my goodness! While I understand why you deem it Christmas due to the colors however; this will be great year ’round 😀 Pinned and can’t wait to make this ~ delicious ~ thank you!
Oh yeah, shrimp scampi is a favorite of mine any time of year. Enjoy!
My mouth is watering!! Seriously need to try making this recipe–maybe I’ll make it for NYE!
I LOVE shrimp scampi and this looks like such a fresh delicious take on it!
This seriously looks SO good!
Thanks for sharing!
I would like to offer a potential correction to the article though – Scungilli refers to conch or large sea snails whereas Anguilla refers to Eel.