Shrimp & bacon scampi with spaghetti

Spaghetti tossed in a white wine shrimp & bacon sauce aka shrimp bacon scampi. This seafood dish warms up the soul and beats the cold. This is a low-maintenance recipe for Valentine’s Day but you’d be surprised at how freaking awesome it tastes. Every time I make this scampi, I feel like I’m in those fancy restaurants with the soothing jazz music in the background.

Uncooked shrimp works best for this scampi recipe. It is sautéed in butter and garlic for a nice touch. Go hard on the herbs for this one, because it really compliments the shrimp and the sweetness of the white wine. I loved adding fresh rosemary sprigs to this because it brings a lovely fragrance when sautéed in food. I used Pinot Grigio as my wine choice because it is a citrus-y, dry white. The next best option would be Chardonnay. After you add the wine to the shrimp, let it “evaporate” or reduce in size and then stir in your cooked spaghetti and bacon (optional) immediately. This works with freshly-boiled spaghetti not leftover spaghetti, which clumps up when cooled. Add some extra butter for a saucier pasta and serve right away. Leftovers taste good for up to 4 days in the fridge, but I don’t think this shrimp & bacon scampi will last that long.

Other fancy, meaty pasta recipes to check out:

• Bacon and chorizo mac and cheese
• Shortcut chicken alfredo
• Sweet-and-sour kale and shrimp chow mein

Shrimp & bacon scampi with spaghetti

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Servings: 4 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 30 Minutes 30 Minutes

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

Spaghetti

250g spaghetti

6-8 cups water to boil spaghetti

 

Shrimp & bacon scampi

5-6 bacon rashers, cut in half

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoons virgin oil

1/4 cup salted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

300g/0.6 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1-2 teaspoons dried basil

3 rosemary sprigs

1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped, to garnish

Instructions

Spaghetti

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the salt and virgin oil.
2. Arrange the spaghetti in the hot water standing upright and allow it to slowly soften into the saucepan.
3. Once it is no longer standing upright, cover the saucepan with its lid and boil the spaghetti for another 40 minutes, until it is just soft.

Shrimp bacon scampi

1. Fry the bacon rashers in a heated non-stick frying pan and let it fry in its own fat on high heat.
2. Once the bacon is crispy on both sides, turn off the heat, and let it drain on paper towels.
3. Chop the bacon with a sharp knife into smaller chunks.
4. Rinse the shrimp with cold water, pat dry and set aside.
5. Sauté chopped garlic cloves in salt, butter and olive oil in a large skillet (I used a 12 inch skillet) for a minute on high heat.
6. Lower the heat and add in the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add in the dry white wine, lemon juice, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley and rosemary sprigs.
8. Let the wine sauce reduce in half. Once the sauce starts drying up, add in an additional 2-3 tablespoons of butter.
9. Toss the cooked spaghetti in the wine sauce along with the chopped bacon from step 3 for about 2 minutes on medium heat.
10. Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped cilantro.
11. Serve hot.