Shrimp Scampi Pizza

This past weekend was one of those special days for many people. Yes, it was Valentine’s day, and it was that time of year when it seemed as though every male was in a panic mode around 5:00 p.m. on that Friday, hustling to purchase a card, and a bunch of red roses. It’s sad to say the least. I say that only for the fact that the thought only occurs once a year for many people. I often joke with my wife that she gets Valentine’s day, every day, as I am the one cooking, and cleaning up the dishes, every. Single. Day. Plus I’m funny, at least in my book.

Kidding aside, I’m game when it comes to that special day, and as we both my wife and I agreed that we were not going to do much, I decided to add a special touch to the evening, not just for my wife, but also for my kids.

I decided to buy some chocolates for my wife, as well as purchase a handful of purple iris’s, and well, make a crab and shrimp boil for the family.  Crab clusters, along with shrimp, corn, and potatoes, were the center piece of the dinner table, and it is always a great time watching the kids dig in. With that said, I had made plenty of clarified garlic butter for dipping, and I had plenty left over. That’s when it sparked an idea, only to reuse the butter and poach some shrimp in it to be used in a shrimp scampi pizza. Yes, a shrimp scampi pizza that was to die for.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 batch of your favorite pizza dough
• 12-15 shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 2 tbsp Italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded

Set your oven rack, closet to the top of the oven, and preheat your oven, and pizza stone (if you have one) to 500 degrees. Let the oven preheat until you prepare all of the remaining items.

To a small pot, add the butter, and let this melt. Skim any of the foam off of the top and discard. If you want to strain the butter into a fine mesh sieve, you can go that route, but for this recipe, any of the solid fats that might remain are fine. Reduce the heat to low, and add the garlic, chili flakes, wine, and shrimp.

Poach the shrimp just until the become opaque, about 5 minutes on low heat.

Stretch out your pizza dough for about a 14 inch pizza. Once stretched, remove the stone from the oven and carefully place the dough on top.

Add the cheese, the place the shrimp on top of the pizza. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of the garlic butter. Place the stone back into the oven, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the pizza dough is golden, and everything is cooked through.

Remove the pizza from the oven and place onto a wired rack. Let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes, then shower with the parsley. Slice and serve.

I ended up making this pizza only because I had that leftover butter, well, not only that, but my wife (and I for that matter) really loves shrimp scampi. As I would normally eat this with some pasta, or just the shrimp by itself, this pizza was incredible to say the least.

I served my wife the first piece, and I heard her from afar talking to herself with food ‘umms and ahhs’, that I knew this was going to be great. The smell of the garlic buttered shrimp, with that white wine was apparent right off of the bat, and believe it or not, the cheese just held things together and did not interfere much with the shrimp. I know I say this from time to time, but this pizza was really, really good.

Shrimp Scampi Pizza

Dax Phillips

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Pizza

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 batch of your favorite pizza dough
• 12-15 shrimp peeled and deveined
• 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic grated
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 2 tbsp Italian flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
• 2 cups of mozzarella cheese shredded

Instructions

 

• Set your oven rack, closet to the top of the oven, and preheat your oven, and pizza stone (if you have one) to 500 degrees. Let the oven preheat until you prepare all of the remaining items.
• To a small pot, add the butter, and let this melt. Skim any of the foam off of the top and discard. If you want to strain the butter into a fine mesh sieve, you can go that route, but for this recipe, any of the solid fats that might remain are fine. Reduce the heat to low, and add the garlic, chili flakes, wine, and shrimp.
• Poach the shrimp just until the become opaque, about 5 minutes on low heat.
• Stretch out your pizza dough for about a 14 inch pizza. Once stretched, remove the stone from the oven and carefully place the dough on top.
• Add the cheese, the place the shrimp on top of the pizza. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of the garlic butter. Place the stone back into the oven, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the pizza dough is golden, and everything is cooked through.
• Remove the pizza from the oven and place onto a wired rack. Let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes, then shower with the parsley. Slice and serve.
• I ended up making this pizza only because I had that leftover butter, well, not only that, but my wife (and I for that matter) really loves shrimp scampi. As I would normally eat this with some pasta, or just the shrimp by itself, this pizza was incredible to say the least.