Lemon-Scented Shrimp Recipe (Gamberi al Limone) from The Italian Diabetes Cookbook
Lemon-scented shrimp are great as an appetizer, put onto skewers, served with pasta, rice or simply with vegetables, as a main course.
When you taste this lemon-scented shrimp, you’ll be amazed at how quick, easy and delicious it is!
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You may recall that I shared my friend Amy Riolo’s recipe for spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino earlier this year?
Disclosure: I received a copy of Amy Riolo’s The Italian Diabetes Cookbook to review, however, I was not compensated and there were no conditions attached. Opinions are solely my own.
Is Shrimp Good for a Diabetic Diet?
Yes, shrimp is a very good choice for a diabetic diet as long as it’s used in a healthy recipe such as this lemon-scented shrimp recipe in Amy Riolo’s book. With only a handful of ingredients (3 ingredients are just salt and pepper), it’s super easy, and quick to make, and is also delicious.
The Italian Diabetes Cookbook, by Amy Riolo
The following recipe came from her fabulous The Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook–one of Amy’s 7 published books. In the post for the recipe, I wrote that Amy had another book on the way, The Italian Diabetes Cookbook – Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and Beyond. Well it’s been out since January, so I’m a bit overdue in telling you more about it!
Many people incorrectly assume that Italian food is off the table (no pun intended!) when it comes to diabetes, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is, if we are talking about authentic Italian cuisine. American-Italian cuisine is a different story, as many times it doesn’t resemble anything remotely Italian.
Five Minute Lentil Soup Recipe
If you like my Italian recipes, Amy’s book contains many more, very similar types of dishes–more than 150, to be exact. These are mostly super simple recipes, containing a handful of fresh and healthy ingredients, which are all diabetic-friendly.
Sample Menus
After Amy’s introduction, she offers many sample menus which direct the reader to each recipe listed in the menu. For example, a menu for each season of the year, a Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes menu, Vegetarian Feast, Sunday Dinner and more. The main part of the book which follows has appetizers, first and second courses, side dishes, salads, etc., however, afterwards Amy adds a section called, “How to Cook Like an Italian.”
I love this part as I feel it’s like a mini foundation for authentic Italian cooking. Once you know how to make things like beans, stock and breadcrumbs, you can branch out, using these to make so many delicious dishes! She also adds what to keep in your pantry and a culinary glossary, which I feel is also extremely helpful to those wanting to learn to cook in an authentic Italian style.
The paperback book is very easy to read and most recipes are super short and simple. Wine suggestions are given for each dish, as well as dietary information, which is important for those with diabetes.
I highly recommend Amy’s book if you or someone you know has diabetes, it would be a super cookbook to have in the kitchen. The Italian Diabetes Cookbook has photos of some of the dishes, but there isn’t a photo of every single dish. If you have any questions about the cookbook, please feel free to ask me; I’d be happy to help if I can.
Meanwhile, here is a sample recipe from Amy’s book; it is indicative of many of the recipes–super easy, quick, delicious and diabetic-friendly, and this one happens to be keto. I hope you enjoy this lemon-scented shrimp.
Lemon-Scented Shrimp (Gamberi al Limone)
very slightly adapted from a recipe from Amy Riolo’s The Italian Diabetes Cookbook
serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb shrimp, either fresh or frozen, raw, peeled and deveined (wild-caught, without any additives)
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- crushed red chile flakes, to taste (I used fresh cayenne pepper)
- juice and zest from 1 lemon
Directions For the Lemon-Scented Shrimp
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
When oil begins to release its aroma, add shrimp, salt, black pepper, and crushed red chile flakes. Cook shrimp on one side just until the tail of the shrimp is bright pink, approximately 1-2 minutes.
Turn shrimp over and squeeze lemon juice over top.
Cook shrimp until all the gray color is gone and they are pink and cooked through, approximately 1 to 2 more minutes. At this point, shrimp should be coiled slightly tighter than when they were raw. Shrimp will continue to sizzle in the pan.
When they are cooked completely through, transfer shrimp to a serving platter, garnish with lemon zest, and serve immediately.
Amy’s notes: in addition to serving this as an appetizer, you can toss these lemon-scented shrimp into pasta with fresh parsley or add into a finished soup or salad. They also taste great on top of the Crostini with Chickpea Cream (a recipe in The Italian Diabetes Cookbook.)
In addition to Amy’s book, check out the DiabetesStrong.com website for a plethora of information about living a healthy life with diabetes.
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Lemon-Scented Shrimp (Gamberi al Limone)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb shrimp (either fresh or frozen, raw, peeled and deveined, wild-caught, without any additives)
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
- ⅛ tsp crushed red chile flakes (to taste)
- juice and zest from one lemon
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- When oil begins to release its aroma, add shrimp, salt, black pepper, and crushed red chile flakes. Cook shrimp on one side just until the tail of the shrimp is bright pink, approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Turn shrimp over and squeeze lemon juice over top. Cook shrimp until all the gray color is gone and they are pink and cooked through, approximately 1 to 2 more minutes. At this point, shrimp should be coiled slightly tighter than when they were raw. Shrimp will continue to sizzle in the pan.
- When they are cooked completely through, transfer shrimp to a serving platter, garnish with lemon zest, and serve immediately.
Notes
- Serve 2 or 3 shrimp as an appetizer, and 6 or 7 as a main course.
Nutrition
Disclosure: I received a copy of Amy Riolo’s The Italian Diabetes Cookbook to review, however, I was not compensated and there were no conditions attached. The opinions are solely my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC regulations.
Christina’s Cucina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. This is done by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Diabetic Recipes
The Lemon-Scented Shrimp sounds like a really delicious recipe. My husband has uncontrolled diabetes and he is a very picky eater. He likes lots of protein but very few veggies, so meals in our house are difficult to say the least. But he does like shrimp so I will try this recipe. Thank you for this giveaway.
That’s difficult, Angela. I’ve added your name to the giveaway, good luck!
So sorry to hear this, Angela :( I hope you and your husband enjoy the shrimp. Amy’s diabetic cookbooks may be even better for you.
Thanks for posting this great looking shrimp recipe, Christina, and for the info about Amy’s cookbooks. I’ve found the change to cooking “diabetes-friendly” to be a challenge.
As I mentioned in my review (q.v.), this is a quick to make, very tasty recipe. It’s the kind of simple, but very flavorful dish that my Italian grandmother used to make…especially on those meatless Fridays! The classic lemon-and-shrimp combo is light and refreshing; good winter or summer. I will make again.
Thanks for your review, Reggie! I appreciate it, and happy you left a message here so I can say thank you as I cannot reply to reviews! Hope you find more recipes to enjoy!
Thanks, Christina,
I forgot to comment on how much I appreciate sites that post diabetic-friendly recipes. Please keep it up because really good ones are hard to find. Thankfully, so many Italian dishes are already low-carb. May I suggest that when you do post a recipe that could be wholesome for diabetics that you somehow mark it as such? I think it would be very helpful, and might create a broader audience both for your site and for the innate healthfulness of Italian food.
Thanks also for highlighting Amy Riolo’s books. I hadn’t come across them before and will surely check them out.
Your wish is my command! Great suggestion Reggie, so I had my tech guy add in a “Diabetic” tab under SPECIAL DIETS in the drop down menu on my home page. So if you hover over RECIPES, you will see SPECIAL DIETS, then hover over that to click on Diabetic and all my recipes that fall under this category will show up. Right now I have only added 3, but I will keep adding them as I see them. Hope this helps!