Shrimp Scampi overhall

Shrimp Scampi Overhall

I would say that shrimp is the gateway to fish.  If you have never tried fish, this is a great place to start.  If you have never cooked fish... also a great place to start.  It even comes frozen which is awesome for us peeps in Arizona.  You can buy it frozen, cooked, and ready to eat thawed if you wanted to.  Even my 6 year old son LOVES shrimp cocktail like his papa.  I obviously grew up eating fish.  Fried, poached, baked, grilled and any other way.  I did not grow up eating salmon or tuna from a can.  Yucky!  I even ate crispy fish tails.  Yummy!  When I moved to Arizona, I will be honest.  I was afraid to eat fish.  Did I really want fish that had been shipped from the ocean that far when I lived 15 minutes from it my entire life.  Nope!  But fish in general is good for you and since I have kids and have to eat healthy to teach them...  I eat fish.  Yes frozen.  It's better than nothing right? Omega 3's and all that jazz.  Shrimp scampi over pasta is pretty much the simplest way to eat/cook shrimp.  It starts with chopped garlic and parsley.  Pretty standard ingredients in cooking. 

Of course you need some shrimp.  Now to be clear.  There are multiple ways to buy shrimp.  Heads on or off.  (yes they were an animal at one time with a head) Then there is cooked or raw.  Frozen or fresh.  And then they even come in different sizes.  Small, medium, large, jumbo.  There are technical numbers for all of this but since I don't live near the ocean, I get what I can.  These were large/Jumbo size.  I bought the non-cooked version from the fish case and Frys.  In the past, I have used the cooked ones and they are pretty good just cook quicker.  There is also a shell and vein on them.  The shell is pretty obvious to take off.  The vein, not so much but PLEASE don't forget to remove it.  Even better, have the fish monger do it for you.  For you fish virgins, that the guy behind the counter.  The vein is, for lack of a better term, the poop tube.  Nobody wants to eat that right? Here is my pretty fish.

Now put them in a hot pan right after the oil.  I chose olive in this case because I would only be cooking these for 2 minutes max.

They will immediately turn a pretty pink and start to curl.  Turn the stove off and remove!  They become tough and rubbery very quickly.  Yucky and not good eats.

Add two chopped roma tomatoes and the garlic parsley mixture. Toss to combine OFF THE HEAT!

This is then placed over angel hair pasta or any other pasta you can dig out of your pantry.  The oil, garlic, parsley, and juice from the tomatoes make a great light sauce.

This is a great meal for summer because it takes literally 5-7 minutes to make total.  For us Arizona people, you don't even have to turn on the oven when its 110 degrees which is an added bonus.  I will be honest.  I have been eating this for a while.  When Symon and I were in college we would buy the "Pasta-roni" garlic butter in a box and frozen shrimp already covered in frozen butter and garlic from Costco and eat this all the time.  No tomatoes of course because veggies are not needed right? This is the adult, non frozen, fresh version.  Try it!