What to Cook Tonight – If it’s Tuesday it must Be Pasta Night
Linguine with Shrimp and Peas
Tonight was the night to do a pasta dish. So linguine with Shrimp and Peas was the dinner ticket! We have been eating meat pretty much every night whether it is a burger, tri-tip, chicken, or BBQ Ribs. It is time to mix it up a little bit with a refreshing but easy to prepare pasta dish. Our course I rely on what I happen to have fresh in the fridge, frozen in the freezer, and what’s available in our stocked pantry.
Since we don’t just run out to the store these days on a daily basis to pick up ingredients for the evening meal if we don’t have it on hand. My grocery curbside pick-up day isn’t until Thursday, so for tonight’s meal sourced the ingredients from what I have on hand. Good thing we usually always have a good selection available to us at home. My recent delivery from Costco just brought us a large bag of lovely frozen shrimp, so for tonight – shrimp it is. Along with imported linguine and frozen peas from the pantry and freezer. I took a recipe that I usually do and adapted it to use the ingredients I have on hand here at home.
The original recipe calls for fresh shrimp, I used fresh-frozen. It also called for fresh basil which I have just run out of, but fortunately, we always keep on hand cubes of frozen Pesto Sauce which worked as a perfect substitute. The only other item the I had to change up a bit as I used Trader Joes Frozen Peas instead of fresh sugar snap peas since I did not have any of those available either. I also added sliced and quartered zucchini and halved cherry tomatoes.
As we all know in a pasta dish, you can create just about anything with what you have available at home provided you have the key ingredients which are, of course, good pasta, garlic, parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil (I like to use the freshest I can get from my quarterly delivery from my olive oil club). All of the rest you can easily improvise with your own choice of ingredients.
Please make comments and share photos of your dish that you created from this recipe!
Linguine with Shrimp and Peas
Ingredients
- 1 16 ounce package of Linguine, or spaghetti, or Angel Hair or for that matter any pasta of your choice.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – at least 2 tablespoons
- Chili Oil if you have it, if not just take a teaspoon of Olive Oil and add Cayenne or chili flakes
- 1 ½ pounds of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 pound of sugar snap pea pods, this is where I substituted frozen peas, also add any other veggies of your choice. I added zucchini and cherry tomatoes too!
- 2-3 large cloves of garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon of Butter
- 1 ½ cups of dry white wine, I used a Chardonnay because that was what I was drinking of course
- 1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
- 1/3 cup of chopped fresh basil (this is where is substituted the pesto sauce cube)
- Fresh Ground Parmesan or whatever you have on hand
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- • Boil lightly salted water in a large pot. When it comes to a boil, had the pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Test your pasta because the timing will vary depending on what type of pasta you are using. The thicker denser pastas will take a bit longer where an angel hair probably won’t take as long.
- • Drain and reserve about a quarter cup of the pasta water that the pasta cooked in, in case you need to add a bit more liquid to the pasta dish. I rarely use the pasta water.
- • Heat the olive oil and the chili oil in a wok style pan or any deep pan you have on hand. Mix in the shrimp, the pea pods and the garlic. If you are using frozen peas hold off add them from a minute. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes or until the shrimp are almost opaque. Then set them aside in another bowl.
- • Pour the wine into the wok or pan, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by 1/3. This is where I added in my pesto cube. The add the shrimp, peas and garlic back to the pan. Stir and continue to cook over medium heat until the shrimp are completely opaque. Remove the wok or pan from the heat and mix in the butter, lemon juice and fresh basil (remember I substituted a cube of pesto sauce we had frozen).
- • Salt and Pepper to Taste, toss the mixture with the drained pasta and toss. Serve with your grated parmesan cheese to top it off. And serve with your favorite wine or beverage of choice.