The Most Amazing Summer Shrimp & Pasta Dish
Hello my hungry friend,
I have made this twice in the past week. Once for me and once for friends. Where the inspiration came from I don’t know, but promised my friends to post the recipe for anyone else who is lacking zing and zang and tang for summer cooking.
Here is what happened. My roomie got a Costco membership and she doesn’t in the slightest mind me mooching off this membership. The result is many trips to Costco where I have prowled the aisles, feeling very much like the cat who got the canary. This of course is not true. I am the canary, caught by Costco. This is evidenced by the amounts of money which I have dropped there in the past few months.
One of these monies being devoted to a bag of shrimp. Now, I don’t often purchase shrimp, because hello. Expensive. But at Costco it’s practically a crime not to buy them because they are so economically priced.
The bag came home with me, where they lived in the freezer for the past month or two. I’ve been trying to do better at not buying food I don’t use up, so this summer has been full of things like rhubarb cream pies and blackberry ice cream from the blackberries purchased from a young entrepreneur, and trying meringues from leftover egg whites that would otherwise spoil in the fridge.
The point is, I’m very proud of myself.
Without further ado, and since I’m not a fan of food writing full of details no other person could possibly want to know (like a cult-like devotion to Costco and its big boxiness) here is how I made this dish.
Put an unmeasured amount of water into a pasta, dump in an unmeasured amount of salt (lots of it), and a little bit of olive oil. Bring to a boil. Make enough linguine for 27 neighbors. Drain when ready.
Chop fresh tomatoes, however many you like to mix in to a pasta dish. No need to cook them.
Slice thinly fresh basil. Again, however much you like.
Slice scallions or tender spring onions to taste.
Slice olives if you like olives, eat some and put rest in dish.
Wash arugula (I don’t always add this).
Grate so much parmesan cheese. The stuff from Costco is amazing! (thank you Harmony)
Put a little butter or olive oil in pan, layer in the shrimp, sprinkle with Magic Salmon Seasoning by Chef Paul Prudhomme. Here is something very important. Only sauté shrimp about 1-2 minutes per side. Do not do not do not overcook shrimp. They’re done when you cut one in half and they’re pink and white, not translucent and grey. If in doubt, remove sooner rather than later. Trust me, a shriveled shrimp is not worth consuming.
Reserve a bit of parmesan and basil and dump everything else into a big bowl. Toss with a few glugs of olive oil, a splash or three of balsamic vinaigrette (I use the inexpensive bottle from Trader Joes which I could not find the link to), salt and pepper to taste. Make sure to add remainder butter or oil from shrimp, and toss all together.
Garnish with basil and leftover parmesan. Savor every bite.
It goes so well with fresh garden mint tea.
You’re welcome.
L. Raine
P.s. I am a participant in an Amazon program which allows me small compensation for links for things folks can purchase.
