Lemony Shrimp Scampi with Orzo

My favorite Food Network star is Giada De Laurentiis. (If I could be her for a day, I would!) I record her show Giada at Home and sit with my laptop on the couch and take notes. That’s me furthering my education – Food Network. 😉

This recipe was on the episode “Viewer’s Choice 2” and it looked like a perfect weeknight dinner. I was hoping to have some friends over for dinner the night I planned to make this dish, so I was prepared for making the full 4-6 servings. It ended up being just being the two of us, but none of the food went to waste! I took it to lunch the next day, and we even used it as a side dish later in the week too.

Lemony Shrimp Scampi with Orzo

Ingredients:

• 1 lb orzo pasta
• 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
• 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1/2 C white wine
• 5 C arugula or spinach or other (I simply used a store bought organic salad mix)

Steps

1. Cook orzo in boiling pot of salted water until al dente.
2. Whisk together 1/3 C olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet, saute shallots in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. Add in the shrimp and season heavily with pepper and salt. Once shrimp are pink, curled, and cooked through remove and set aside.
4. Deglaze the skillet with white wine and add in your greens. Once the greens are wilted and most of the wine is evaporated add in the cooked orzo and shrimp.
5. Toss with the vinaigrette from step 2.