We have some shrimp in the freezer, and my husband said he'd love some shrimp pasta. Random, since we never eat pasta. Anyway, I have looked online for a good recipe. Every highly reviewed recipe that looks good, calls for wine!! We don't drink, or cook with alcohol.
Do you have any tried and true recipes?
ETA- I can't eat pine nuts (any nuts, actually. Nut allergy), so no pesto.
Jo's recipe sounds great...You can usually substitiute chicken broth for wine in any recipe...but I don't know how it will work with shrimp. I also like chopped parsley on mine and serve it over pasta...
Take some chopped up garlic and onion and saute it in olive oil. Add some crushed tomatoes. I would throw in some salt and pepper. Heck I would go through the spice rack until I have the flavor I like. Then throw in the shrimp. Add in the cooked pasta so the flavors can infuse and eat. :)
Oh if you ever want to make pesto there are several other nuts you can use instead of pine nuts. I have made it without nuts at all and still yummy. Personally I wouldn't do pesto with shrimp but maybe that is me.
Any recipe that looks good... you can substitute chicken broth for wine
On the subject of pesto.. MY favorite pest uses almonds and basil. I have an irrational hatred of pine nuts. If it's a nut allergy you're kind of screwed... if not, try and almond and basil pesto. Or make one with a food processor, basil, almonds, and olive oil.
Personally, I sear the shrimp first (marinate in olive oil, garlic, herbs... and then heat a pan up till smoking and sear *drained* shrimp in 2 rounds... first round just pink, takes about 2 minutes, then the 2nd round make sure the pan is totally dry, smoking again, and resear until the edges are brown and crispy).
Then I just add the shrimp to whatever sauce I happen to feel like, homemade or jarred marinara, or puttanesca (goes reeeeally well with shrimp and has a bit of a kick to it), alfredo, pesto, and toss with the noodles. Letting it either cook fast, or slow, or bake, depending on what kind of dish I'm going for.
Cooking the shrimp separately means that while there's still good shrimp flavor, but the dish isn't saturated in "shimpyness", and the shrimp "pop" in your mouth (the searing keeps the juices in), even if you decide to do a baked dish. Also it means you can snitch some while you're cooking the rest ;)
One of my favorite combos requires liking feta cheese... and is a really simple tomato, basil, garlic sauce... with crumbled feta cheese, over pene or linguini. This is EITHER a baked dish or a "big pot" dish.
- A lot of tomatoes chopped, or a couple big boxes or cans of chopped tomatoes
- garlic (a couple cloves, diced)
- olive oil
- red pepper flakes (just a tiny pinch if you don't want it spicy, up to a tsp f you do want it spicy)
- about a cup of chopped basil (just stack the leaves, roll like a cigar, and slice into strips, reserve some for "pretty" sprinkling over the top)
- chicken stock or white wine
- half a block of feta cheese
- penne noodles
Optional: Parm Reggiano, or Peccorino Romano
Cook your penne pasta until NOT quite done. The noodles will absorb and soften from the sauce while baking. Drain. Set aside.
Ring your big pan round a few times with olive oil, throw in the garlic until fragrant but not brown, add your tomatoes, basil, chicken stock. Simmer for about 20 min until it's reduced/ as thick as you'd like it.
Use a caserole or bread pan and fill halfway with penne. Pour over some sauce, some of the cooked shrimp, some feta. More noodles, sauce, shrimp, feta. Cover and bake at 350-400 for about half an hour.
** If you want a big pot dish... cook the pasta al dente... and once the sauce is done... just add the feta directly to the sauce along with the shrimp... stir. Either add your noodles to the sauce, cheese, shrimp... or serve sauce over noodles.
Sprinkle over some of the reserved sliced basil for pretty and zippy flavor.
Add grated cheese over the top
Shrimp Alfredo is always delicious! I use angel hair pasta instead of fettuccine, it just seems to go better with shrimp for me :-)
I melt a stick of butter in a 9X13 pan, add shrimp. I then add garlic, salt and pepper, cover in shredded parmasan (not sure how to spell sorry) then bread crumbs and bake til a little crispy on top - serve over pasta.
Use vegetable broth instead of the wine : )
alfredo sauce....
cooking with alcohol is fine - it usually burns off. However, i do understand about not wanting to drink. So I would stick with white sauces...alfredo - does NOT require wine, cooking or otherwise.
a good marinara sauce would work with shrimp too. if you are interested in more - i will look through my books and such to find some more...
Simply skip the wine.
As you are making it taste test it so if it needs something. I don't like wine in cooking. I like to drink wine but to me when added to a recipe it tastes sour.
Good luck with it and let us know how it turned out.
My husband is a recovering alcoholic, so I do not cook with alcohol ever. Contrary to popular believe not all of the alcohol burns off ...
http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/19980903alcohol8.asp
http://family.go.com/food/recipe-sk-19117-ask-chef-mom--d...
... so you do have a legitimate concern.
Jo W's ideas sound very good! I've used alfredo sauce. Sometimes I use Mrs. Dash, onion powder and some parmesean cheese. I've also used chicken broth. Really just any spices that sound Italian or like they would go together.
I have a Pampered Chef cookbook (somewhere). I think it's called 30 minutes to dinner. Anyway, they have a nice orzo shrimp recipe that includes oyster juice, lemon juice, garlic, a little bit of mint. Sometimes I add a little tomato juice.
Good luck!
Use walnuts instead of pine nuts in your pesto - actually it's awesome with shrimp!!
Easy recipe: Saute the shrimp in olive oil. In a separate pot, add a can of diced tomatoes, two tablespoons of olive oil, one minced clove of garlic, and a 1/2 teaspoon of basil. Let that cook for about 10 minutes. Then pour it over angel hair pasta, and toss in the shrimp. Yum!
We don't usually have Wine in the home, so I use broth and a splash of white wine vinegar or juice ( just a spoonful for acidity/sweetness).
It works great for recipes that call for red wine too, for those I use balsamic vinegar.
Add me to the broth camp, with maybe a splash of lemon juice or "fancy" vinegar...
Although Shrimp Alfredo sounds yummy!
You can always replace wine in nearly any recipe with stock (chicken stock for seafood and chicken recipes, some pork; beef for beef recipes).
You'll be losing some of the flavor, but add a splash of lemon juice (even if the recipe doesn't call for it) for the flavor.
They also sell alcohol-removed wine that retains a lot of the flavor but has virtually no alcohol content (and the alcohol will cook out - even with normal wine).
