This Thursday, April 29 is National Shrimp Scampi Day and North Italia is celebrating by revealing its signature Wild Shrimp Scampi recipe.
Inspired by a meal from North Italia’s corporate chef Chris Curtiss’ childhood, the hearty dish features plump prawns, juicy cherry tomatoes, garlic, butter, black pepper, dry vermouth, chopped parsley and breadcrumbs.
“I’ll never forget the first time I tasted shrimp scampi while my parents had taken my sister and me out to dinner in North Beach, San Francisco,” Curtiss says. “I wanted to recreate the flavors and interactive aspect of a shared dish of shrimp scampi.”
At-home cooks can create the meal with the recipe below or leave the preparation to the professionals at one of North Italia’s two Valley locations.
North Italia Wild Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
- 8 U15 wild caught shrimp (shell removed, butterflied)
- 2 pinches kosher or sea salt
- 6 turns black pepper from a pepper mill
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes split in half
- 4 garlic cloves smashed with a knife until flattened
- 1/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
- 1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp Italian breadcrumbs
- 1 lemon cut in half
Instructions
- Season the shrimp evenly with salt and pepper and places in a small square Pyrex dish (8” x 8”).
- Break the butter up into 1/2” pieces and place in the dish with the shrimp.
- Arrange the cherry tomatoes and garlic around the shrimp.
- Pour vermouth or wine into the dish.
- Turn oven broiler on.
- Once the oven reaches 500 degrees, place the dish in the oven uncovered and broil for approximately five minutes or until shrimp are fully cooked.
- Carefully remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle parsley and breadcrumbs over the shrimp.
- Squeeze the lemon over the dish and serve with toasted ciabatta or focaccia bread to soak up the sauce.
