Classic Shrimp Scampi

     I never understood why some people are averse to shellfish, barring allergies of course.  Shrimp and crab are definitely in my list of top 10 foods. However, I have to keep in mind that I grew up eating that stuff, and if someone tried to get me to eat crab meat for the first time today, I'd think they were nuts. Anyway, I think most people do at least like shrimp. This is another one of my favorite examples of how fancy food can be really easy. There are a bunch of different ways to make shrimp scampi, and someday I'll try some others, but this one is simple and delicious. The only hard part is defrosting and peeling the shrimp if you get frozen ones, but you could get fresh ones or at least ones that are pre-peeled. After that, it takes less than 30 minutes to cook. Just a disclaimer: This isn't healthy at all and I'm not going to pretend that it is, but try it anyway. Life's too short!

INGREDIENTS:
4 servings of angel hair pasta
1 lb. raw medium shrimp, fresh or frozen and defrosted
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
salt and pepper
fresh parsley to garnish if you want to get really fancy

DIRECTIONS:
1. Start boiling water for the pasta, but it cooks in only 6 minutes, so add it to the water when you put the shrimp in the oven.
2. Preheat oven to 400 and grease an 8x8 glass dish.
3. Prepare your shrimp i.e. defrost, de-peel, de-tail, de-vain it if it's not done for you already.
4. Chop the garlic and sauté it with the butter and oil over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the shrimp to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon juice and cook on both sides until they turn from clear to pink (maybe 5 minutes, give or take).

6. When the shrimp are fully cooked, turn off the fire and spread the shrimp out in a single layer in the glass baking dish. Then sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and parmesan. Bake for about 10 minutes.

7. Serve over pasta and garnish with chopped parsley and extra lemon wedges if you want to.

Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for a great dessert with a little bit of a political statement attached.