recipe: linguine with shrimp scampi…

my mom and i love the barefoot contessa… her cookbooks are awesome and if you don’t have one, you need to get one! recently we discovered a new favorite recipe and i wanted to share it here.

ask my husband gil, i may be a cake designer and i bake constantly but i am not a chef. actually, i don’t cook a whole lot, but i am getting better! we are very snacky eaters and i cook dinner MAYBE 2 times a week.  also, i don’t really like meat and we never cook it at our house, so it’s usually vegan/vegetarian dinners galore. this recipe is easy, fun and SO flavorful. gil loved it, and said it was his favortie thing i’ve ever made. now, that’s pretty impressive becuase he is quite the foodie. it also gave me a reason to use this new serving platter.

here’s what you need :

• vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus
• another 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 lb linguine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 16 shrimp) {now shrimp have been known to freak me out a tad, so i decided to use medium sized shrimp insead, but feel free to use what you like. even the jumbo!}
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 lemon, zest grated
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
• 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes