Easy shrimp and pasta

After watching Rick Stein’s Mediterranean travel cooking show, I got inspired to make something with a few fresh ingredients that embodies that area and local cuisine. This recipe is great for the weeknight because it takes about 30 minutes to come together.

Ingredients:

2 lb fresh shrimp peeled and deveined

1 package medium Campari tomatoes quartered, or a package of cherry/grape tomatoes halved

2 cloves garlic sliced

3T EVOO

Boxed dried spaghetti (half)

1/8 t red chili flakes (or more if you want some heat!)

Salsa Verde

The key to this is using all fresh herbs

½ c chopped Italian parsley

¼ c chopped chives

¼ chopped dill

¼ c chopped mint

Juice of one lemon

Grated lemon rind (1 lemon)

½ c EVOO

Mix all the ingredients of the salsa and set aside.

Boil water for pasta. While waiting for water, clean shrimp, add s&p to them, slice garlic and chop tomatoes. Pour olive oil into a frying pan on medium heat, and once hot, add garlic and chili flakes. After about 1 minute, add the tomatoes and a little bit of S&P, and turn the sauté pan to low. Add spaghetti to boiling water. When the pasta has about 6 minutes left to cook, add the shrimp to the sauté. Cook until pink on both sides. When pasta has about 2 minutes left to cook, add it to the sauté pan and toss to coat and finish cooking the pasta. Add a little hot pasta water if necessary to add liquid to the sauce.

Plate up each dish with some pasta, enough shrimp, and sauce. Then dollop the salsa verde on top and a generous drizzle of olive oil.