Vegetarian shrimp scampi, where have you been all my life?
As a Gulf Coast girl, I used to eat shrimp scampi all the time. I loved the blend of tart lemon and sweet wine and my beloved shrimp, which was my favorite food before I went vegetarian (and the single meat product I ever missed afterward). Now that there are several vegetarian “shrimp” products on the market, I can enjoy that scampi once more! Or twice more. Or thrice. Or … well, dozens of times in the coming months, I’m sure!
Now, I’ve got to be honest: I’ve never made shrimp, or “shrimp,” scampi ever before in my life. Someone else – a friend, a relative, a restaurant – has always done the cooking. But I knew what I liked, and I knew what I wanted, and I also knew it was possible to enjoy thanks to a package of Sophie’s Kitchen breaded vegan shrimp in my freezer! So I got right to work.
The full recipe is below, but the shortened version is: I heated some linguine, then got to work sautéing the onion (a Vidalia onion I picked up at a farmer’s market on our way home from the beach yesterday – do you know how difficult it is to find Vidalia onions this far north? I nearly wept with joy when I saw a crate of them!) and minced garlic. Once they were translucent, I added the juice of a lemon, a half-cup (or so) of white wine, some green peas, and some butter, then topped it with some salt and pepper and let the liquids reduce. Once they reduced, I threw the shrimp in the pan – I baked them first, because they were breaded and I didn’t want all the breading to fall off in the pan during the cooking time! – and heated everything together once more. After that, we were ready to eat!
The end result was fantastic, if I do say so myself. The scampi sauce was tart and sweet with a hint of peppery goodness, and the peas and vegetarian shrimp went together perfectly. The shrimp was great, as well – it tasted, well, shrimpy, which I very much appreciated given all my hard work! The dish made me remember those shrimp scampis of old, and then made me so happy that I could re-create such a dish with a vegetarian flair all these years later. I’ll definitely make it again!
And now, the recipe …
VEGETARIAN “SHRIMP” SCAMPI OVER LINGUINE
Serves 2-4 (depending on how hungry you are)
What you’ll need:
1 box linguine
2 tbsp. olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½-¾ white wine
1 lemon, sliced in half
1 cup frozen green peas
2 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package vegetarian shrimp (we used Sophie’s Kitchen brand)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
First, heat a pot of water to boil. Once it’s rolling nicely, add the linguine and let it cook.
Around the time you add the linguine to the pot, place the vegetarian shrimp on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 425. You’ll add these to the pan at the last minute, but you want them to be fully cooked first; we use breaded shrimp and don’t want them to lose their breading in the pan! (If you’re not using breaded shrimp, you can probably get away with adding them straight to the pan when the time comes, without the pre-baking.)
Next, add your olive oil to the pan and heat the burner to Medium. Once the oil has warmed up, put the onion and garlic in and allow them to cook until they’re translucent, about 5-7 minutes. If a few bits of garlic brown, no problem – just keep on cooking. :)
Once the onion has cooked (because the garlic doesn’t take nearly as long), add the wine and the juice of a sliced lemon and mix everything around nicely. Place the butter in the pan along with your salt and pepper to taste. Then add the peas and allow the liquid to reduce until it’s nearly gone. If your linguine is finished before the liquid has reduced properly, give it a little gas and flip the burner up to Medium-High. (Just keep an eye on it!)
Finally, it’s time to drain the pasta and add the shrimp to the pan – no, not all at once. Drain the pasta and let it sit, and then add the baked shrimp to your pan, stirring everything around to coat thoroughly. Be careful of the breading! You’ll surely lose a little of it, but try to be gentle when you toss everything regardless.
Just before serving, add the parsley and stir everything around once more. Pile your plate high with linguine, add a hearty helping of scampi, and enjoy!
:)