Shrimp Scampi- Kitchen Secrets

If I had to pick my #1 all time favorite cookbook, it would be Kitchen Secrets by Readers Digest. I don't even remember where I got my first copy, but it was definitely one of the first cookbooks that I owned. I'm on my second copy now, as the pages tend to fall out after a while, and have given copies to friends and family as well.

The book is more of a method type of book. It's split into chapters (like soups and stews, pastas, vegetables), and each chapter features sub-chapters (tomato sauces, cream sauces, layered pastas, filled pastas) to break it down more specifially. The sub-topics take up the left and right pages when the book is opened. The left side features the theorys of the item, varieties, storage and reheating, and best ingredients for the use of it. With tomato sauce, for example, it discusses canned versus fresh; the best way to store and reheat, what pastas and recipes are better with sauce and various add ins that would work. The page on the right features a recipe for tomato sauce and then there is always a second recipe that is a variation, like fra diavlo. I have read this book from cover to cover on many, many occasions. Mainly, I chose this recipe from here simply so that I could tell you about the book!

So, on to the recipe..... my best friends and I have what we call our "ladies club" where a small group of us get together on a monthly basis. It used to be at restaurants, and then fell to the wayside, but we started it off again in 2010 with the idea of going to each others houses. Month #2 was at Dana's house and she decided on an Italian theme. Shrimp was on sale this week, so I decided on the scampi. I love shrimp and know that the girls do, too. Plus. I liked that it was a quick dish that I could make there instead of finding time in my own kitchen!!

I packed up the shrimp, a small container with the garlic & parsley, and a lemon in a cooler and was on my way. We peeled and rinsed the shrimp and then I got started on the sauce. Melted some butter in a sautee pan, added the garlic & spices, and then tossed the shrimp until it was cooked. Voila!

The shrimp was delicious, but probably should have been served with rice or noodles. I didn't think it went with the other dishes as well as it could have (all of which were fantastic). The butter was very heavy and just kind of sat there on the side of everything else. I will definitely make this again, but will serve it as its own dish rather than in addition to other items.