Page Five Shrimp; Shrimp with Soundtracks

Shrimp with Garlic and Grape Tomatoes

When I worked in the restaurant, one of my mom's favorite dishes was my bastardization of Shrimp Scampi. So clearly this recipe had to go in here. But in that the dish is so unlike shrimp scampi, I realized I needed a "new name" for it. While cooking this over at a girlfriend's apartment I was telling her that, and she suggested "Page Five Shrimp", as it sounds vague and fancy at the same time, like "Page Five" could be a shee-shee restaurant or something. So I liked that. And then it slowly dawned on me that all the CDs we were listening to while I was prepping and cooking and then when we sat down to eat were soundtracks. If you opt for the suggested musical directions at the bottom of the page, hold off on "Run Lola Run" until you're just about done with the meal.

Also, this meal exemplifies the notion of the holding pattern.

For 4

Ingredients

1 # 31/40 Shrimp
1½ Stick Butter
2 T Basil
2 T Oregano
1 T Parsley
Salt
Pepper
11 Cloves of Garlic (loosely diced)
¼ + White Wine
Handful of Grape Tomatoes (cut in half)
Juice from ½ a Lemon
1 Zucchini (julienned)
½ Red Pepper (julienned)
½ box of Fettuchine

Directions

Peel and devein your shrimp. Set them in a bowl with cold water, and set aside.

Need to do something else? This is a fine place to take a break from the prepping.

Next, take your butter, basil, oregano, parsley, and garlic and put them in a pan, over super low heat, stirring often. After about 15 minutes, remove from the heat. Now you've got your garlic butter.

And another good place to go and hang out with your guests without worrying about the meal burning.

When you're starting to think about getting dinner actually underway, put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Go see how everyone's doing, and see just how hungry people are. If they're starting to need sustinance, put your fettuchine in the pot and get that cooking.

Next, drain the water from the bowl that has your shrimp in it. Toss the shrimp with salt and pepper. Pour your garlic butter into a decent sized sauté pan, and set the heat to medium-high. As that's starting to get good and hot, add the shrimp to the pan. After about 5 minutes, flip the shrimp, add your wine and lemon juice, and pop the zucchini and red pepper in there as well. After another 3 to 5 minutes add your grape tomatoes, and simmer for another 3ish minutes.

If one of your guests is running a little late, or you just feel like putting the meal on hold for a few minutes, you still can. Drop the heat on the shrimp pan to low (or off, depending on how long you want to slow things down for), and kill the heat on the fettuchine pot.

When you're ready to plate, drain your pasta, and turn the heat up to medium-low on your shrimp pan. Add the pasta to the shrimp pan, and with a set of tongs, toss it to get everything mixed in together. And serve.