SICILIAN SHRIMP
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon minced white onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Chablis wine
- 6 fresh medium shrimp, butterfly cut with tails on
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
- pinch salt
- pinch ground black pepper
- pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon sliced canned black olives
- 5 slices Italian bread, toasted
Preparation
Once you have the onion, garlic and parsley all chopped up, this clone of a top appetizer pick at the O. G. takes only a few minutes to prepare. Cooks at the Olive Garden speed up the process by using what they call "scampi butter" -- which is just butter that has all the spices and garlic and onions already in it -- so that each serving is prepared quickly and consistently without any tedious measuring (this is a different sauce than what comes on the restaurant's chicken scampi). When the shrimp is done, each one is placed on the inside end of five toasted Italian bread slices which have been arranged on the plate in a spoke-like fashion (you can also use a French baguette with the slices cut on the bias). One shrimp is also placed in the middle of the plate, then the delicious sauce is poured over the top. When the shrimp is gone, you dip the bread in the sauce and keep on eating. I've included diced roma tomato as an optional garnish, since one Olive Garden I visited used it, but another location on the other side of town did not. As for the shrimp, use medium-size (they're called 31/40) that are already peeled, but with the tails left on. Then all you have to do to butterfly them is make a deep cut (don't go all the way through), on the outside of the shrimp where the vein was. When the shrimp is cooked, they will curl and spread open.
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