Another Game has come and gone. After all the hoopla and anticipation, it’s
over. There was tackling, there were
touch downs, we watched the cheerleaders doin’ their thang. The Game was loaded with furry frolics; it
was mutt madness, and oh so adorable.
Why yes, I watched Puppy Bowl IX!
Does Super Bowl have hedgehog cheer leaders? Do hamsters operate the Super Bowl Blimp
camera? Does Super Bowl have a “Cute Cam”? I think I’ve made my case.
Do you say it shrimp or sssrimp? I say shrimp. My mother in law, Miss Millie, says sssrimp; she’s a Southern girl, I’m not sure if that has something to do with her pronunciation. No matter how you say it though, shrimp is just sweet and briny goodness.
I had intended on making a shrimp scampi pasta, but I
started to feel guilty about all the butter and olive oil that would be
consumed. If I were feeling guilty
before I even ate the pasta, how would I feel after eating it? I decided that I had to lighten it up, cuz I did not want to feel guilty!
The light version of Shrimp Scampi pasta has spinach for
some good nutrition, I also use some white wine and pasta water to create the sauce,
so that I could use less butter and oil and still have a gosh, darned tasty
dish!
So go ahead and eat a heaping bowl of Lighten Up Shrimp
Scampi Pasta with Spinach, you’ll be glad you did!
Did I mention that the longest part of this recipe is
waiting for the pasta to boil? This dish
takes no time at all to whip up.
Here’s what you do.
Get the aromatics together. Shallots, garlic, flat leaf parsley and lemon. |
Give the baby spinach a rough chop. |
Peel and devein the shrimp. Unless you were smart enough to buy your shrimp already peel and deveined! Season the shrimp with a little salt and pepper. |
The shrimp will cook in about the time it takes for the pasta to cook. Cook the pasta to just a little under al dente, about 2 or 3 minutes less than the package directions tell you. |
Heat a little olive oil and cook the shrimp in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Cook the shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes on this side. |
Add some white wine, and allow the wine to reduce by half. |
When the wine has reduced add the spinach. I like to season the spinach with a little salt and pepper at this point. |
When the spinach is mostly wilted, stir in a pat of butter. |
Drain the cooked pasta, but reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water.
Add the cooked pasta along with the parsley and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. |
When the pasta is perfectly cooked squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the pasta. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. |
This is how much sauce I like. If you like more, add the remaining reserved pasta water a little at a time. I was keeping this dish light, but you can add more butter if you like. |
Serve Lighten Up Shrimp Scampi Pasta with Spinach with a lemon wedge and some grated Parmesan cheese. |
LIGHTEN UP SHRIMP SCAMPI PASTA WITH
SPINACH
Serves 4
¾ box Pasta, such as Spaghetti, Angel Hair,
linguini; a box is one pound
1 ¼ lbs. Medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt
and pepper
3 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
1 Shallot,
minced
3 to 5 cloves Garlic, minced
Pinch Crushed red chili pepper
1-6 oz. bag Spinach, roughly chopped
3/4 cup White wine
1 1/2 cups Reserved pasta water
1 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 Lemon,
cut half of the lemon into 4 wedges for garnish, use the juice from the other half in the pasta.
1.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water to just
under al dente; this will be 2 to 3 minutes less than what the pasta package
directions say (it will cook further in the sauce). Drain the cooked pasta, but reserve about 1
cup of the pasta water.
2.
Meanwhile; season the shrimp with salt and
pepper.
3.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet between
medium and medium high heat.
4.
Add the shrimp to the hot pan.
5.
When the underside of the shrimp has changed
color, about 2 to 3 minutes; turn them over.
6.
Add the shallots, garlic, and crushed chili
peppers to the shrimp. Cook for another
2 minutes, stirring to keep the garlic from burning.
7.
Toss in the spinach; season the spinach with a pinch of salt and pepper.
8.
When the spinach had barely wilted, add the
white wine and allow the wine to reduce by half.
9.
When the wine has reduced, stir in the butter,
and add the cooked pasta along with about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta
water. Toss and cook until the pasta is
completely cooked. If the pasta is too
dry, add a little of the remaining pasta water at a time; until you have the amount of liquid you like.
10.
Add the chopped parsley, squeeze the juice
of half a lemon over the pasta, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
11.
Cut the other half of the lemon into wedges, and
garnish the pasta with the lemon wedges.
12.
If desired, serve the pasta with grated parmesan
cheese.
Looks delicious! I have some shrimp in the freezer and I would love to try this recipe out soon!
ReplyDeleteHi Kari,
ReplyDeleteYour Shrimp Scampi Pasta looks so delicious!
Ideal for our warm summer here in Lima,will try it soon.
The pictures and the colors are very pretty :)
Shrimp Scampi is my go to meal when we eat at Italian restaurants and for some reason, I have never made it at home. I'm so excited to try your recipe and love that you added spinach in there for some extra nutrition! It look perfect!!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds delicious! A nice lighter version of something I normally think of as creamy.
ReplyDeleteI bet this was tasty - it certainly is beautiful. Lovely dish! And I didn't want the game, not really on purpose, everybody else in my house watched it. I went to bed at 7:00 and slept 11 hours. Must have needed it more!
ReplyDeleteAdding white wine: ALWAYS a good idea. Seriously. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe fixed this for a six person dinner party and it was really good. Everyone enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThat's great Nick! I'm glad that y'all liked it!
Delete