This week has been one of the busiest weeks of my life, at least as far as I can remember.  I’ve been trying to get my bills paid, get Tikki ready to be boarded, get all my medicines together, pack multiple bags and make sure everything is ready for my trip.  Oh yea, I think i forgot to tell you, but Is Butter A Carb is going to Europe, I’ll be in Paris, Amsterdam, and Prague! On the way home I’ll be stopping at JFK and will hopefully get to see my sista from another mista, Kaitlyn! She’s a flight attendant for Delta airlines and it’s always such a treat to get to see her beautiful smiling face and spend some quality time together.  I’m so honored to be able to call her my friend!

Oh my, I almost forgot, Tikki turned 3 this week! We had a little party for him with doggy ice cream and treats. He even got his own little ‘Happy Birthday ‘ cookie and party hat! So, happy 3rd birthday Tikki! Gosh, I love him so freakin’ much!

Anyway, I can’t wait to tell you all about my trip(and the food of course) when I get back to the States. With it being such a hectic week I needed something fast and delicious to prepare for dinner, plus I’ve been on a diet (low carb low sugar) for a while now and I needed to take that into account.  I think Garlic Shrimp was the perfect diet dinner recipe I could have come up with! It’s just so fast and easy to make, it doesn’t hurt that it’s extremely delicious either! So, anyway, here’s my recipe for Garlic Shrimp!

Ingredients:

1 pound of shrimp

1 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons of butter

3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1/3 cup of Italian parsley, chopped

1 Tablespoon of caper brine

Salt to taste

Instructions: 

Ok, so first off, let’s get everything ready so we can cook with ease!  First, peel and devein your shrimp.

Next, let’s get our butter ready, you need 2 Tablespoons cut into 4 pieces.  Chop your parsley, squeeze out the lemon juice, measure out your caper brine, red pepper flakes and dice up the garlic.

Ok, now let’s get out the best heavy bottom skillet you own (or have borrowed and yet to return, Tim) and put it on the highest heat setting you have.  We need to have this sucker super hot.  Next, add in your oil and it needs to get super hot as well.  You’re going to want to watch for that first little wisp of smoke to come off the oil.  Here we are with shrimp and tongs in hand! We are ready! As soon as you see the little wisp of smoke, add your shrimp in and even them out in the pan….then do nothing.

Let those little buddies cook for about a minute without touching them.  Sprinkle with a little salt. After about a minute, go ahead and toss them around a bit, for about another minute.  Then we’re going to add in our garlic and red pepper flakes.

Mix the garlic and pepper flakes around and keep it movin’! We want to cook our garlic a little and wake up those pepper flakes.  We don’t however want to burn the garlic, that’s really the only way to mess this dish up.  So, keep a tossin’ and a stirrin’!

Now let’s add in the lemon juice, caper brine, and one of the chunks of butter.  Mix all that around and get it really well incorporated.  Once that butter is melted, reduce your heat to low and add in the rest of the butter and your parsley.

 

We are in the home stretch now! Mix all that together and once that butter is melted and you’ve tasted for seasoning, you are ready to indulge in some mind-blowing garlic shrimp!

When you plate it up take all the shrimp out add just a little water to the pan and mix it around and BOOM! You have a delicious sauce to pour over those delectable little shrimp!

There you have it, Garlic Shrimp! Such an incredibly simple and delicious recipe.  The sweet shrimp, the herbaceous parsley, the acidity from the lemon, and that smack to the mouth from the garlic all just come together to form a classic symphony of flavors. No matter if you’re making this for a quick dinner or a formal party, this quick and simple dish is sure to please.

I hope you give this one a try. If you do, and you should, be sure to comment and let me know how it turned out!  I more than likely won’t be able to post again until after Europe (which will be mid March), however I will if I can.  I can’t wait to share stories and hopefully recipes with you from my travels.  In the meantime, enjoy these delicious(low carb) garlic shrimp and until next time, Ciao!