Seafood scampi

Easter has come and gone. The highlight was my little Nutmeg trembling with excitement when she discovered that the Easter bunny brought her the last remaining Paw Patrol Pup she needed to complete her collection. Tiny hands literally shaking as she tore off the paper, squealing as loud as she could. Seeing that little face erased my irritation at having to go to 7 stores to find it. The kids make the holidays a joy.

And this was Good Friday dinner, inspired by a pasta dish served at one of our favorite restaurants on Martha's Vineyard: The Square Rigger. It's a home-cooking type of place that serves up super fresh seafood and big slabs of beef. Summer vacation can't come soon enough. In the meantime, this dinner will suffice.

Seafood scampi

Use whatever seafood you have or can get fresh. I often use lobster when I can get it and sometimes use only shrimp. One whole lobster would do the trick. Or increase the amount of shrimp if that's all you've got.

Ingredients

• 5 Tbsp. Extra-virgin olive oil, separated
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (or more if you're only using shrimp)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup langostino tails, thawed if using frozen
• 3/4 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered (or one plum or vine-ripe tomato, seeded and chopped)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black papper
• 4 scallops, thawed if using frozen
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• 1/2 pound pasta of your choice (linguine, fettuccine)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh chives or parsley, chopped

Cooking Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Heat 4 Tbsp. of the olive oil in a large sautee pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds (don't let it burn).
3. Add the shrimp and white wine and sprinkle with a little salt. Simmer for 2 minutes then flip the shrimp.
4. Meanwhile, add salt to boiling water then add the pasta.
5. Add the tomatoes and langostino tails to the pan with the shrimp and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Season scallops with salt and pepper to taste.
7. While the pasta cooks, heat remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small non-stick skillet over high heat. When hot, add the scallops and sear for about 1 minute on each side. They should be nicely brown and caramelized. Remove from pan and keep warm.
8. Reduce heat under shrimp to low and stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice. When pasta is al dente, strain and immediately stir into the shrimp mixture. Let it combine for a minute or two, then divide among 2 pasta bowls. Top each with two scallops and sprinkle with some chopped chives or parsley.