Baked Shrimp Scampi - Barefoot Bloggers

For our second February cooking challenge, over at Barefoot Bloggers, Ina Garten's Baked Shrimp Scampi was the featured recipe.

The bread crumb, butter and lemon topping is what really makes this recipe. Can you see the flecks of lemon zest in the topping? For serving, we squeezed lemon wedges over the dish to bring out even more of the lemon essence.

Finding fresh shrimp in rural Kansas does not exist. I looked at our small selection of frozen shrimp and all that they had was precooked shrimp. The small package of precooked shrimp was about $12.00. I would have probably needed two bags to make this recipe. Since Jim doesn't even like seafood, I had no desire to splurge on an ingredient that wouldn't be enjoyed and savored by everyone and that would bust my grocery budget. I decided to make this dish with chicken instead. As a bonus, chicken breasts are on sale this week at Whites for under $2.00/lb. (I will only purchase chicken breasts when they are under $2 per pound and then stock up the freezer. I don't understand who is willing to pay over $4 per pound for chicken.) I also substituted standard bread crumbs in place of the panko bread crumbs. I could actually get the panko style crumbs in Phillipsburg, but they cost a lot more than traditional bread crumbs. Plus, I already had bread crumbs on hand.

The dish was easy to make and had strong notes of butter and lemon. You can't go wrong with that flavor combination. However, I think this dish is better suited for spring and summer. The strong lemony flavor just really says warm weather to me. I served the chicken and topping over a plate of egg noodles. I would typically use fettuccini noodles but I had these in the cupboard left over from a previous recipe and I try to use what I already have on hand.

Today, I'll use some of the leftovers as a topping to a salad for lunch. I think that sounds even better than my dinner serving over pasta.