Ina Garten's Baked Shrimp Scampi 🍤 | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

When it comes to easy entertaining, my first rule is choose recipes I can make in advance. My second rule is actually make them in advance. So I just thought shrimp scampi is one of my favorite dishes, classic Italian dish, but you usually have to make it just before your guests arrive. You have to saute it really quick in a pan. I thought there's got to be an easier way. So what I've done is I'm going to make shrimp scampi baked. I'm going to assemble the whole dish in advance, put a crunchy crumb topping on the top, and then bake it in 10 minutes before I serve dinner. I have two pounds of really large shrimp. I mean, they're called jumbo. They're called extra large. Forget that. They're 12 to 15 count, which means there are 12 to 15 in a pound. And then what I'm going to do is devein them, which is run my knife right down along the back and take the little vein out that's right in there. I want that. You can actually buy them in the store like this, but I just thought it so easy to do. I'll just do it myself. So the second thing I want to do is butterfly them. Just run your knife right along the back and you want to open it up just sort of like a little book. And then when I put them in the dish, the little tails are going to stand up like that. And also they're very even. It's going to cook very quickly because it's half the thickness. Okay, that's it for the shrimp. Into a big bowl and add some great flavors. Okay, now really simple marinade gives them lots of flavor. White wine, two tablespoons of white wine, three tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons of salt, one teaspoon of pepper. Toss it all together. And next I'm going to make this incredible crispy topping with Japanese bread crumbs. So I need one and a half sticks of butter and then lots and lots of garlic. Four huge cloves of garlic. Just going to chop them up. You want minced garlic because nobody wants to take a big bite out of garlic. Okay, right in with the butter. The next thing is a shallot. This is a very big shallot. So using one big shallot or if you have smaller ones too. Just a rough chop. Dice it. Okay, that's one very big shallot. Now lots of fresh herbs. Three tablespoons of Italian parsley. It's an Italian dish, you got to make Italian parsley. Okay, just rough chop. Italian parsley really does have a little more flavor than the curly parsley. Okay, so that's about three tablespoons right in the bowl. Just to give it a little texture, one teaspoon of fresh rosemary. Just a pinch of it. You just want it very subtly in the background. So just a little pinch, like one teaspoon. That should be enough. Okay, now a little heat. Quarter of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and lots of lemon. And be sure you zest it before you juice it, otherwise you can't zest it. Okay, so one teaspoon lemon, parsley, garlic. I mean, how bad can it be? Okay, that should be about a teaspoon. Right into the bowl. Two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Just add a little bit of liquid, catch the seeds. Next, an egg yolk, and that's going to bind it. Mash it together. And then I'm going to add panko, which is Japanese bread crumbs. They're sort of very light and airy, but if you can't find them, you can always use bread crumbs. I find they're available in seafood shops, in specialty stores, but I actually find them in the grocery store now. Okay, two-thirds of a cup of Japanese bread crumbs or bread flakes. So much flavor in this topping. Okay, time to arrange the shrimp in the dish. So I've got a gratin dish. It's about 14 inches long, and it's not very deep. It's like an inch and a half, but you can really use any size. This is perfect for two pounds of shrimp. So I'm going to take the cut part of the shrimp and just put it right down flat in the dish with the tail curving up and in concentric circles all the way around the outside of this dish. And so now the shrimp are really, they're quite thin, and they'll cook really quickly. I don't mind taking a little time when I'm getting ready for a party. I just hate cooking when my friends are there, so I find this very relaxing. And the other thing is I never try out a new dish on my friends. I hardly even do it with Jeffrey. When I'm entertaining, I want to be really sure that the dish is exactly the flavor I want it to be, and that usually takes one or two tries. Okay, take what's left, olive oil and the white wine, salt and pepper, pour it over the top. And now I'm ready for the topping. This is the good stuff. I'm just gonna crumble it all over the top. So if I were gonna make this in advance, I would make it to this point and then refrigerate it and then bake it before my friends got there. But this is so delicious. I want you to see how fabulous it is when it comes out of the oven. Okay, into the oven, 425 degrees for about 10 minutes, and all it's gonna need is a spritz of fresh lemon juice the minute it comes out of the oven. God, this smells so fabulous. So this is really simple, and I have other simple things up my sleeve. Wait till you see. I'm gonna get wine. I'm gonna set the table. I have a really simple first course and dessert. I can't wait to taste this. Julia Child used to say that she didn't like Italian cooking because it was so simple. It wasn't like cooking. Hello? That's just why I like it with all due respect to Julia. So I'm gonna make a fruit salad for dessert, but I'm gonna make a really special one. First, I need some yogurt. So I'm making fruit salad with limoncello, which is an Italian dessert liqueur. I'm gonna make a lemon curd topping. So the first thing I need is some yogurt. I need seven ounces of Greek yogurt. I actually use Greek yogurt a lot. It's much thicker than regular yogurt, and I think it's got great flavor. I need a third of a cup of good lemon curd. You don't have to make it. You can find it bottled. And a tablespoon of honey. Wonderful flavor. And just a splash, like a quarter of a teaspoon of good vanilla. That's the topping. I mean, how easy is that? Just mix that all together. Okay, clear the decks. It's time for fruit salad. For fruit salad, I always go to the store and see what looks best. The only way to tell is to pick up something, smell it, sort of ask if you can have a taste, if it's a berry. So I've got two cups of strawberries. I'm just gonna do big, thick slices. I was at a party recently when everybody said, okay, what's your favorite dessert? And everybody was going, mm, lemon meringue pie. And my friend Frank said, fruit salad. And everyone went, fruit salad. But fruit salad can be really good. If I want to make this in advance, what I do is I get the berries together and refrigerate them separately from the topping. And then I put them together when I serve it. Okay, so that's strawberries. And then I've got raspberries and blueberries, about a cup of each. A little bit of sugar, two tablespoons. And the next thing is limoncello, which is so intense. It always reminds me, mm, it's incredible. The lemon liqueur reminds me of the trip I had to Sicily. I'm gonna pour three tablespoons into the fruit salad. And it's incredible what it's gonna do to it. Just mix this together. Okay, that's gonna sit for five minutes. I'm gonna slice a banana. I feel like I'm making cereal for breakfast. But I'm making something so much better. Okay, banana into this. Just give it a toss. And these berries look so gorgeous. All the juices that came out with the sugar and the limoncello. It's fantastic. So again, if I were going to make it in advance, I'd do it to this stage and then refrigerate it. But I can't wait. So I'm gonna make a serving of it for myself. I just want to show you how incredibly good this is. And just because it's fruit salad doesn't mean you can't serve it in a really beautiful silver bowl. And some yogurt and lemon curd topping drizzled over it. A little bit of mint. It's good for fruit, really brings out the flavors. Now that's a great dessert for entertaining.