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Shrimp with Pesto

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The other night when plans to dine out fell through at the last minute, I had to whip up something fast for dinner at home. Earlier in the day, I caught Giada De Laurentiis on the Food Network preparing a quick and easy shrimp sauté with pesto and thought why not make that tonight. Here’s a link to the recipe with a video.

I didn’t plan to write this recipe up until I tasted the final product, so I only have the one photo of the finished dish. My one reservation was using Parmigiano with seafood, but it worked. Having a plethora of basil on hand and not being able to find fresh mint, I omitted it and just used basil. I  also substituted on-sale large shrimp rather than the jumbo. Finally, rather than adding my pesto to the pan, I chose to add the cooked shrimp to my pesto and tossed them with it in the bowl.

Served with steamed rice and a chilled Sauvignon Blanc, this was a perfect dish for a warm spring evening on the terrace.

Giada de Laurentiis’s Jumbo Shrimp with Basil and Mint Pesto

Ingredients
3/4 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds uncooked jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions
Blend the mint, basil, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. With the machine running, gradually add 1/4 cup of olive oil, processing until well blended. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmesan. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Toss the shrimp with the extra-virgin olive oil in a large bowl to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss again.

Heat a heavy large skillet over high heat. Working in 2 batches, add the shrimp and sauté until just cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Toss the shrimp with enough pesto to coat.

Transfer the shrimp to a platter and serve.

Wine Pairing: Sauvignon Blanc, Vermentino

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Shrimp Marinara with Spaghetti

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As of late, quick-fix dishes seem to be dominating our weeknight meals. More often than not, they’re dictated, not only by my schedule, but by what’s in the market and how many extra ingredients I’ll need to pick up. Having over five items kicks me off the express check-out line, so 4 is my maximum number of secondary ingredients.

Last night’s supper is a case in point. Peeled and deveined shrimp caught my eye at the market. I knew I already had half a can of chopped tomatoes sitting in our fridge, so I thought: shrimp marinara with some pasta. The shopping list evolved from there: parsley and spaghetti were the only other ingredients I needed to purchase as I already had plenty of olive oil, garlic, herbs and spices at home. I was out of the market in 10 minutes. (Pity anyone who stands in my way as I race through the aisles.)

If you start with putting up the water for your pasta and prep and cook as it comes to a boil, you can have shrimp marinara on the table in about 30 minutes. Here’s my recipe:

Shrimp Marinara with Spaghetti

2 small garlic cloves, sliced thin
1/4 cup extra-vigin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Calabrian red-pepper flakes (Calabrian red pepper flakes have a lot of heat; you may need to use more or less depending on the type of pepper flakes you have and how spicy you like your sauce.)
16-ounce can chopped Italian tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup chopped parsley
8 ounces spaghetti (I recommend a spaghetti that has flavor and texture. Rustichella d’Abruzzo is my favorite.)

Prepped ingredients
Prepped ingredients

1. Put up the water for the pasta.

2. In a large skillet, over medium low heat sauté the garlic with the red-pepper flakes in olive oil. When they become fragrant and the garlic turns just a very pale gold, add the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper.

The garlic and red-pepper flakes
The garlic and red-pepper flakes

3. Continue to cook on medium low and after the tomatoes come to a slow simmer, cook for 15 minutes, string occasionally.

4. At this point, the water for the pasta should be at a boil. Add a handful of salt to the water and add the spaghetti. Cook, following package direction for al dente.

5. While the pasta is cooking, add the shrimp to the sauce, raise the heat to medium and cook until the first side turns pinks, around 3 minutes. Turn the shrimp and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Shrimp cookiing
Shrimp cookiing

6. One minute before the prescribed time for al dente, using tongs, transfer the spaghetti to the skillet with the shrimp, reduce the flame to low, and toss the spaghetti to coat with the sauce. Off the heat, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve.

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The spaghetti coated with the sauce

Wine Pairing: Pecorino, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Sauvignon Blanc

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Shrimp with Zucchini and Tomatoes

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Yesterday, I was challenged to to prepare the following recipe from Weight Watchers. At first glance, it looked fine.

Shrimp with Zucchini and Tomatoes

Ingredients
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup of grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup water

Instructions
Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add zucchini in a single layer; increase heat to high and cook until bottoms are golden, about 2 minutes. Flip zucchini and cook until golden on the other side, about 2 minutes or more. Remove zucchini to plate with a slotted spoon. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet. Add shrimp; sauté 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper; sauté until shrimp are almost cooked through, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic and water; sauté, stirring to loosen bits from the bottom of the land, until shrimp are cooked through and tomatoes are softened, about 1 to 2 minutes more. Return zucchini to skillet; toss and serve.

However, when I brought the ingredients home and re-read the recipe I couldn’t resist making some changes for the following reasons., which would unfortunately slightly increase the number of Weight Watcher points.

First off, I don’t like to sauté in nonstick pans. I have two, but use them exclusively for eggs and omelets. I opted to use stainless steel, which necessitated using an extra tablespoon of olive oil.

Second, I thought that sautéing the tomatoes for 1 minute really wouldn’t extract their flavor or change their texture.

Finally, I thought combining water and raw garlic to “deglaze” the pan wasn’t going to add much flavor.

So, keeping most of the ingredients except for substituting wine for the water as well as adding an additional tablespoon of olive oil for sautéing and a quarter cup of chopped parsley for garnishing, I prepared the recipe with a few changes to the instructions.

I added all the olive oil (2 Tablespoons) up front and sautéed the zucchini along with the garlic for about 3 minutes; I kept my eye on the garlic making sure it remained light gold and not brown. As a a result, the zucchini were only lightly colored but nonetheless perfectly cooked.

I transferred the zucchini, garlic, and oil to a bowl, making sure there was no garlic left in the pan. I then carefully poured off most of the oil from the bowl, without any of the garlic, back into the sauté pan. I then seasoned the grape tomatoes with the salt and oregano and sautéed them until they started to break down and create a sauce.

At this point, I added the shrimp and cooked on one side until they turned pink, about 2 minutes. I then turned the shrimp and cooked for about 1 more minute. Then I added the wine and returned the zucchini, garlic, and any remaining oil in the bowl to the pan. I cooked everything for about about 2 more minutes. I then plated onto heated plates, sprinkling the shrimp with some chopped parsley and served with couscous.

I know the final dish had a few more Weight Watcher points than the original, but I think the extra flavor and texture of my version may have been worth them. However, if you are following their program religiously, I think you’ll be more than happy with the original recipe at the beginning of this post.

Wine Pairing: Dry Rose