CEiMB: Linguini with Shrimp

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was chosen by Farah of Confessions of a Novice Baker.

I love shrimp.  I have been looking forward to splurging on a package of shrimp to make this dish.  And it didn't disappoint!

Linguini with Shrimp

Preface:

• instead of linguini, I used a Tri-Color Vegetable Pasta
• I upped the garlic to 3 cloves ... I love garlic
• I used only 3/4 of a pound of shrimp, which I bought peeled, deveined and frozen.  I would have bought them with shells, if I could have found them, because I think that, even frozen, they retain more flavor if they are with shells.
• the white wine that I used was actually the last part of a bottle of cooking wine ... I can imagine that the dish would have been even better with a decent quality wine.
• asparagus is unheard of in Peten, however, I had just made a very tasty green bean recipe the day before, and had half of the beans left over, so decided to use them instead.
• I had no parsley, and don't actually like parsley all that much, so I used a mixture of half fresh chopped cilantro, and half fresh chopped basil.
• I had no cherry tomatoes, so I chopped up a couple of Roma tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound linguini
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 bunch asparagus stalks, trimmed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 container cherry tomatoes, halved

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the linguini and cook according to the directions on the box.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high flame.  Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute

Add the shrimp and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink.  Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.

Add the lemon juice, white wine and the reserved cup of water to the skillet.  Let simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half.

Salt and saute the asparagus.  cut into 1-inch pieces.

Return the shrimp to the pan

and stir in the parsley.

Add the drained linguini to the shrimp mixture, tossing to combine.

Add asparagus and tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Verdict:

Delicious!  I never would have chosen to make a pasta with that combination of flavors.   However, I have learned that there are a lot of unlikely flavor combinations that are incredibly delicious.  This combination of garlic, lemon and wine are a perfect background for the shrimp.  The slightly crunchy (stringless) green beans were a perfect foil for the pasta, and also combined well with the lemony flavor.  I made one error in that I must have overcooked the shrimp a bit ... it turned out more chewy than I would have liked (or maybe it had been sitting frozen at Maxi-Bodega for way to long, its hard to say with shrimp here).  I made an interesting discovery when I didn't reheat the noodles before adding the sauce, and they were so cool that everything cooled right off.  E. said that he thought that it was a pasta salad (which would be okay, except that he doesn't really like salads).  I found out later, when we had it served hot, that that was not only because it was cold, but because the dressing reminded him of salad dressing.  And when I thought about it, I realized that yes, it is a dish that could quite easily be served cold with excellent results.

If I am lucky enough to have some fresh shrimp, I would definitely plan to make this recipe again.