Last weekend we were talking with a Hawaiian friend from Honolulu who revealed to use this shocking fact: He had never visited the shrimp trucks on the road to Oahu’s north shore. “How could this BE?!” we cried, while remembering the sound advice of “Peel, Suck, and Eat” as provided by that big yellow truck, you know the one, that also has the righteous coffee milkshakes.
It’s probably from that conversation that I got it into my head that it was time to make up a batch of shrimp something or other. I used the recipe for Scampi Fra Diavolo from the Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appetit. It’s a super easy recipe, and if you’re me, it works just fine if you replace the panko with matzoh meal and the olive oil with butter. What they don’t tell you is that you actually need twice as much garlic – don’t hesitate to double it.
When we were done eating the kitchen table was a good mess, covered in sticky paper towels, drips of sauce and a bowl of shrimp shells. All was as it should be. I’ll absolutely make this stuff again – with twice the garlic – and while it’s not the same as sitting on a picnic bench watching surfers and slurping milkshakes, it’s not a bad substitute.
Eat your fish, it restocks your aloha.
I may need to try this recipe out. Looks great!
Can’t go wrong with olive oil and garlic butter.
Oh dear Pele, I love those shrimp trucks. There’s one on Kauai in Waimea town, as you well know, Ms. Nerd. I will definitely try that recipe and try to reproduce the cucumber mango tartar sauce from the shrimp in Waimea.
Sigh. And, then there’s huli-huli chicken. Oh, and poke. Mmmmmm, yaaah.