pesto shrimp pasta

pesto shrimp pasta

“This looks like it’s made by a restaurant!”, said my daughter. High praise! The truth is it couldn’t be simpler.

Maybe my best dishes come about without a plan. I had bought a pound of shrimp on impulse as it was on sale. But I forgot to buy the tomatoes for the dish that I usually make. So, I had to go fridge shopping.

Luckily, I bought something else without a plan - pesto. And I found baby spinach, garlic, lemon, and thin spaghetti. Next, I googled recipes to get some inspirations.

Two results intrigued me. First was a Bon Appetit recipe that had ham. Although I don’t have ham, I learned that I should simply toss the pasta and cooked shrimp with pesto and pasta water.

Then I added Giada (de Laurentiis) to my search. I’ve always had great success with her recipes and of course I had to consult her when it comes to pasta. I found a shrimp pesto dish without pasta. I take note of tossing the shrimp with big pinch of salt, pepper and olive oil before cooking. I’m instantly reminded of the Chinese method of firming up shrimp with salt, and that steaks are often rubbed with olive oil before cooking on cooking shows. I’m guessing the olive oil help the shrimp sear better.

So, I decided to combine the two. It took about half an hour for a beautiful restaurant quality home-made meal.

If you are looking for a quick recipe that wows, this is the one you should try. I’d love to know your results.

Ingredients
• 1.5 lbs. of cleaned shrimp
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lbs. thin spaghetti
• 3-4 cups spinach or arugula
• 3 tbsp pesto
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• olive oil

Directions:

1. Remove the white ‘vein’ on the underside of the cleaned shrimp. Cleaned shrimp typically only removes the dark ‘vein’ in the top side of shrimp. Pat dry. Add Salt, and mix with olive oil and let stand to room temperature.

2. Bring water to boil. Boil spaghetti.

3. While boiling spaghetti, Heat a sauté pan over medium high heat. Work in two batches, sear shrimp for 2 minutes per side. Remove from pan.

4. Transfer cooked spaghetti to sautéed pan without heat on. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.

5. Mix in spinach, pesto, pasta wate on r shrimp and let spinach wilt. Add enough water and olive oil so pasta is not clumped. Squeeze lemon over pasta.

6. Salt and pepper to taste.