Bubba's Shrimps

Our dinner tonight is all about Bubba's shrimps. Remember the movie Forrest Gump and his friend Bubba? How could you forget a movie that, in my opinion, is still one of the best that's ever made?

Anyway, back to our dinner - I made Shrimp Scampi which I adapted from Emeril Lagasse's recipe. Emeril knows a lot about food and his recipes are great but they usually require so many ingredients. This recipe is, perhaps, one of his easiest that I've ever come across.

Shrimp Scampi
2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined-tails left on
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup shrimp stock
2 tablespoons cold butter
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
Lemon slices, for garnish
Rice, as accompaniment

1. Season the shrimp thoroughly with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add enough oil to lightly coat the pan. Add the shrimp and quickly saute until just starting to turn pink, but not cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the onions and saute just until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice, white wine, and stock, and reduce by 2/3, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the shrimp back to the pan and swirl in the butter.
5. Finish with the parsley and check for seasoning.
Here's what I did different to the recipe: 1)I added Emeril's Essence, pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to the shrimp and let them marinate in the seasoning for about 10 minutes before I sauteed them 2)I used chicken stock instead of shrimp stock since it is what I have on hand.

Seasoning the shrimps apparently was a good call judging from my husband's reaction. He actually said "this is so good" four times when he was eating his dinner! Doesn't that give you the warm fuzzies????

I served the shrimp with freshly steamed white rice and garlic bread. I toasted some slices of sourdough bread, and then rubbed fresh garlic on the bread when I took them right out of the oven. The garlic melts from the heat which makes the bread so garlicky.... so good, so perfect for dipping in the scampi's sauce.

As for the white wine, I used part Pinot Grigio and part Chablis. I had a little amount of Pinot Grigio left which I didn't want to go to waste - hence, the mix.