Scampi with Artichokes over Pesto Couscous, a delicious luxurious dish sporting wonderful basil flavors and buttery sweet scampi sauteed with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. A nice change from the menu of festive recipes over the Christmas holidays.
Scampi with Artichokes over Pesto Couscous, a delicious way to say goodbye to the Christmas season, and hello to a new and exciting year!
It's the day of la Befana (the day of the good witch). In Italian tradition on the night of the fifth of January, a good witch (la Befana) visits houses riding on her broomstick, and people leave stocking for her to fill. She is said to bring coal candy to the children who have been naughty and wonderful candies and presents to those who have behaved. It marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the new. This day is a stat holiday and people feast on wonderful dishes being with family and giving thanks to the Befana.
Today we are celebrating with this beautiful seafood dish Scampi with Artichokes over Pesto Couscous.
Scampi is something I had never tried before until visiting Italy and had some with a risotto (Risotto crema di scampi). I loved the buttery, nutty sweet flavor of them and the creaminess of that risotto colored with rich tomatoes and cream. It made it a heavenly experience for me, and one I would remember to call upon when inspired to do a dish with scampi again.
Scampi is not something we find here in Edmonton often. One, there is no sea close by and two, a very far trek to get them here. Well, I was at Bi-Coastal foods, a local fishmonger in these parts. I was actually there picking up some beautiful Atlantic Salmon for Christmas Eve dinner. While they were cutting me a piece of salmon I was doing some wandering looking at all the frozen seafood they had, crab, lobster, scallops, and that is when I spotted these scampi. Immediately I had ideas in my head about recipes, one such as the risotto that brought back so many wonderful memories of Italy and visiting with relatives. I decided to buy a package and surprise Nicoletta. I know they are frozen but who knows, they may be delicious just the same, maybe not as delicious as fresh, but I will work some seasoning to make these out of this world good. The look on Nicoletta's face was good and she was excited for the scampi.
The decision process
This was a collaborative effort. In my mind, a risotto, but feeling a bit heavy from the festive season wanted to keep things light. Nicoletta had seen a recipe for couscous blending it with pesto. I had an ah-ha moment and thought this couscous would be a great platform for a sauteed scampi. So there you have it: ideas at hand and ingredients in the kitchen. Nicoletta and I rocked this dish out of the park.
I think a great way to get a recipe going is to have all the ingredients ready to go. This enables you to infuse a lot of positive, worry free, relaxing energy into this scampi dish. The scampi all nice and thawed, peeled and deveined, courtesy of Nicoletta. Lately, she has really helped me a lot. I have been dealing with some family medical issues, and have not had the time for prep. I would have to say I miss it tremendously but am grateful to my beautiful wife who does amazing work. So with that being said, we are ready with the other ingredients, couscous, pesto which we made a while ago and freeze in small containers ready to use at any time. My parents had so much basil this year which thankfully has blessed us with some great quantities of pesto. The other ingredients, artichoke hearts which were the canned variety, some sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, shallots, garlic, some seasonings and of course extra virgin olive oil.
The couscous is easy. In just a few minutes from steaming in boiling water, then a fork to fluff it up and it is done. Then a bit of pesto sauce goes in and a quick toss and that couscous is infused with wonderful joyful flavors. In a saute pan goes some finely minced shallot, and garlic, accompanied by that liquid gold, olive oil. When the onion is translucent I add the artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and toss it a bit. The best part, the scampi go in, some white wine, parsley, sea salt and black pepper, a little basil paste, a few drops of sriracha sauce and then I had another ah ha moment. That two for this recipe, wow! I have some grated lemongrass in the freezer, and I am thinking it will give some bright notes to the mix, so trusting my intuition in it goes. I let it simmer till the white wine dissipates and a sauce begins to form with the ingredients coating the scampi. The smell is amazing and I am salivating. I can't wait to sink my teeth into those scampi and let all that flavor run rampant over my taste buds.
Plating is important, remember that the stages of eating are first the aroma, and I think we have that, then comes the visual. I chose an aqua dish to me resembling the sea. A nice mound of the basil couscous and topping it with all those lovely morsels of scampi, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, glistening with that sheen of olive oil and spices.
With everything plated we are ready to sit and enjoy a wonderful dinner, maybe even a glass of chilled chablis which I made last year and am quite happy with the outcome.
The flavors are amazing. The couscous light and fluffy and so infused with that basil, pine nut, olive oil, garlic, and Parmigiano in the pesto. Then the scampi, juicy, plump, exploding in your mouth with those seafood juices, in combination to the acidity and sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes sauteed with the artichoke hearts and a bit of heat from the sriracha is heavenly. The lemon grass peaking out in every bite delivering a fresh transition to the heat. I love this dish it has beautifully bright flavor notes and wonderful texture. Scampi with Artichokes over Pesto Couscous, visually stunning and aromatically transcendental, this dish will be a welcome plate at your next dinner party, but why wait for that, make it a special dinner night for you, you deserve it, and it's the day of the good witch!
Enjoy!
Buona Befana!
PrintScampi with Artichokes over Pesto Couscous
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
For the scampi with articihokes:
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- 12 scampi, devined, peeled
- 4 artichoke hearts, drained, quartered
- 4 sun dried tomatoes in olive oil slivered
- ¼ cup white wine
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- parsley
- 1 tbsp grated lemon grass
- 1 tsp sriracha sauce
- 1 tsp basil puree
- salt and pepper
For the pesto couscous:
- 2 tbsp pesto
- ¾ cup couscous
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Couscous:
- In a medium pot add hot water to couscous.
- Cover and let sit.
- Steam for about 5 minutes then take a fork and fluff.
- Add pesto and a drizzle of olive oil, to couscous and blend well.
Scampi:
- In a saute pan heat up 2 tablespoon olive oil.
- Toss in shallots and garlic and saute till soft 1-2 minutes.
- Throw in artichoke heart quarters, and sun dried tomatoes, and stir.
- Place in scampi
- Pour in white wine and lemon juice, sriracha, lemon grass, basil puree, and stir.
- Cook for about 5 minutes till wine dissipates and sauce thickens coating scampi.
- Sprinkle in some crushed black pepper and taste for salt, add if needed.
- Take off heat.
Plating:
- Place couscous in a serving platter.
- Pour the scampi mixture on top.
- Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Serve with lemon wedges.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 servings
When I am not cooking, I enjoy playing musical instruments, singing, writing. I have learned over the years to live in gratitude and enjoy the moment.
Marie-Pierre Breton says
Again!!! A lovely dish you guys! This one looks particularly aromatic and fresh! I know in Christmas time in Spain they make a lot of seafood dishes, is it also in Italy? For now on, I'll celebrate the good witch day every year with an artichoke scampi couscous!! Yum! Love Italian Cuisine!
Hi Marie, Italian cuisine is quite contagious, it is the simplicity of the dishes and the absolute wonderful fresh flavors that I think make Italian cooking what it is, pure heaven! Thank you so much for the wonderful comment.
Happy New year to you!
Cheers!
Loreto
Shauna says
Makes me want to visit Italy even more now! Until then, I'll eat recipes like this one. Looks so fresh and delicious!
Hi Shauna, I have to warn you once you go your hooked and Italy keeps calling you back. This recipe is wonderfully light and delicious as you have observed and it will call you back also to make it again and again........ Thank you for taking the time to comment, Nicoletta and I truly appreciate it.
Cheers and a Happy New Year to you!
Loreto
Sean says
I was wondering where you got scampi in Edmonton! It's good to know that the seafood scene has improved since I moved away from the city.
I wasn't familiar with la Befana until now. I love learning about holidays and traditions like that from around the world. I especially love it when I get to learn about traditions WHILE learning about amazing dishes like this. The flavours here are all amazing - pesto and artichokes sound wonderfully flavourful, yet mild enough to let the subtlety of the scampi shine through. Spectacular stuff.
Hi Sean. I bought the scampi from Bi Coastal Seafood. They of course are not fresh but were flash frozen and shipped right away. I am with you on the exploration of culture and cuisine, traditions etc. A few years ago I spent ten years in various cultures learning of spiritual traditions, cultural tendencies and of course food! It was an amazing experience, where I met an abundance of interesting people. One in particular was a native elder Madge, she had told me a story of a protest she was in around the late 60's and she met a musician who was standing for the cause. They spoke of various issues and what it would take to bring more peace to this earth and that musician was inspired to write a song called Imagine. Yes it was John Lennon. It brought shivers to my body and tears to my eyes. Thanks Madge for our sharings together! Truly grateful. I loved this dish scampi have such a succulent sweetness to them, add in the cous cous with a little Italian basil pesto flair and a dish worth being proud of.
Thank you Sean for your always welcome wonderful comments.
Happy New Year!
Loreto
Denise says
Oh my goodness, this looks so good! My inspiration for dinner often comes from looking at beautiful photographs - your photos are stunning! I cannot wait to try it out. I can see how the Chablis would pair well with this dish.
Hi Denise, I will have to give credit where credit is due. Nicoletta does the photography and she is so talented in staging and tyoe of shots. I help out where I can and do some close ups, but she is the photographer. I hear you when you get inspired by beautiful food photography, it happens to me also.
Thanks again
loreto
Maria says
La Befana vien di notte, con le scarpe tutte rotte... I can still hear my mom reciting this poem... some really great memories. You have captured the essence of this wonderful and important Italian tradition. Scampis were always part of our Christmas celebrations and I love how you have paired it with a pesto couscous. Mouthwatering! Wishing both of you much health and happiness. Great post... thanks for sharing 🙂
You are most welcome, and we are so gracious for your kind and delightful words. Getting to know culture is like being invited into each others homes and being welcomed in open arms to discover the beauty of celebration, tradition and most of all love. I remember all those wonderful poems my mom and nonna would sing and tell me. I cherish those and am sop happy that we brought them to life for you. As for this dish loved the scampi and combined with the pesto cous cous kept it in check with our Italian tradition.
A very prosperous and happy new year.
Cheers!
Loreto
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
You have a lovely combination of flavors going on in your dish along with a couple of surprises from the sriracha and lemongrass. A delicious and imaginative seafood meal.
Hi Karen, thank you for your lovely comment. I always try to trust my inner voice when cooking listening for great creative ideas and flavor combinations. This one really paid off, the dish was delicious.
Cheers!
Loreto