Shrimp Scampi with Angel Hair Pasta

Keep in Mind: scampi is easy to make, but it cooks super quick.  This dish will need your undivided attention for just a few minutes while you cook the shrimp!

Shrimp Scampi with Angel Hair Pasta

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup sherry
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 12-16 oz. shrimp, peeled
• 1 lemon, half juiced, and half sliced into rounds
• 1 cup pasta water
• 8 oz. angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Serves 2-3
Cook time: 10 minutes

The night before: peel thawed shrimp and grate garlic with a microplane (you could finely mince if you do not have a microplane).  Mix garlic with 1 Tbsp. olive oil; toss in shrimp, cover, and let marinate overnight.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil; once it is at a rolling boil, add a handful of salt.  Angel hair pasta is very thin and does not take long to cook, so I add the pasta right before I deglaze the pan.  
In a small food processor, chop shallots with 1 Tbsp. olive oil until they become one, chunky, paste.  If you do not have a small food processor, you can finely mince the shallots, or grate them.
In a medium-hot pan, add 2 Tbsp. olive oil and shallot mixture.  Sautee mixture until shallots are translucent and soft, do not brown.  Add butter to pan and allow mixture cook with the melted butter.  At this point I would add the pasta to the boiling water.
Deglaze pan with sherry and let the alcohol cook off (once alcohol fumes are no longer strongly coming off the pan, the alcohol has cooked off).  
Add the shrimp mixture to the pan and toss to coat in the sauce.  Juice 1/2 the lemon and add to the pan.  Add the slices of lemon to the pan too.
Pull 1 cup of water out of the pasta water and set aside.  Check your pasta for doneness and drain if al dente.  
At this point, your shrimp should be pink, but not overcooked.  Remove from heat (keep in mind that if you are using large or jumbo shrimp they will take a little longer to cook than medium, small, or baby shrimp).  Using a slotted spoon remove about half the shrimp and set aside.  Toss the drained pasta in the pan and coat with scampi sauce; thin with some of the pasta water if necessary (I usually use at least 1/4 cup of the pasta water).
Put scampi on a platter and top with the shrimp you set aside earlier.  Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

*Alternatively, you can serve this with garlicky toasted bread.  In that case, I would serve it from the same bowl and dip my bread in the bowl- this is a great way to serve a crowd and use this recipe as an appetizer.  I would leave the tails on if you are serving with bread.