Shrimp Scampi with Smart Balance

Purchase raw ez-peel shrimp if possible. If frozen, run under cool water to thaw. Peel the skin from the shrimp and devein further if necessary. Even though ez-peel shrimp is typicall deveined, I find that the shrimp can use some minor cleaning before cooking.
Used seasonings to taste. Go easy on the crushed red pepper unless you want extra zing. Parsley is for garnish.

Start boiling pasta. Crush 6 to 8 garlic cloves and chop into fine bits. Slice the lemon. Drizzle olive oil into skillet, enough to coat most of the bottom. Put 3 Tbsp of Smart Balance and chopped garlic into skillet.
Cook olive oil, butter, and garlic using low to medium heat. It is very important to not use high heat. You do not want the oil to spatter or the garlic to burn. The key is to mix the olive oil, butter, and garlic together until the garlic starts to turn brown to release the right flavor. Do not overcook the garlic…dark brown or black garlic will taste awful. Attention must be paid to this step because the garlic will continue to cook a bit after the shrimp is added, so there is a “fine line” here and you don’t want it too dark brown before adding the shrimp.
 
Toss in the cleaned shrimp once the garlic starts turning brown. Again, use low to med heat so the shrimp is not burned. Spread shrimp out to make only one layer so that each shrimp is cooked evenly. It does not take long to cook shrimp, only a couple minutes for each side. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. When the shrimp starts to turn orange/pink color, flip over to cook the other side. Undercooked shrimp will taste “fleshy”, overcooked shrimp will be “rubbery”. Correctly cooked shrimp will have an orange/pink color outside, will white (not grey) all the way through, and have a slight snap to them when eating. Optional: if using crushed red pepper to give a little “zing”, sprinkle to taste (I use no more than a Tsp) while shrimp is cooking. When the shrimp is cooking, swirl the skillet around occasionally so that the olive oil/butter/garlic can coat the shrimp. When the shrimp is cooked, turn off the heat. Squeeze a bit of juice from a lemon slice over them.
The pasta should be ready by the time the shrimp is cooked. Place drained pasta directly into skillet with the shrimp. You can drain the entire pot of pasta if you want to, but I skip draining the entire pot and just use tongs to grab some pasta right from pot, let water drain above pot, and then place into skillet with the shrimp. Once the desired amount of pasta is in the skillet, gently stir all of the contents so that the pasta gets mixed in with cooked olive oil/butter/garlic/shrimp. After stirring, toss in a couple lemon slices and sprinkle parsley over the top. Serve right from the skillet and ENJOY.
This recipe makes a 'skilletfull' of servings, which is between 4-6. It is difficult to narrow down exactly how many because we enjoy it so much!


Number of Servings: 6

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user KANDKFAM1.