I’ve been doing the cooking at our house for the past few years, but I’ve had Janie as a coach . Not that she had to tell me how to do everything – I’m a pretty good cook – but she was always there if I had a question or wanted a second opinion. I was proud of myself the other night though. I came up with a recipe I thought was really good all on my own. No, I’m not going to turn into one of those annoying food bloggers who goes on endlessly before ever getting to the recipe, but I am going to share the recipe here.

I have a bunch of frozen shrimp that Jess left with me when he moved to San Francisco. I wanted to use it in a lemony creamy pasta dish. I started with a recipe from my Cooking for One book,  “Lemony Spaghetti.” I made several substitutions, some because I didn’t have the right ingredients and some to make the dish my own. The recipe below is what I consider the ideal recipe, if you have all the ingredients, and I’ve scaled it up for two people.

4 T. Toasted pine nuts
Jumbo shrimp*
2 (or more) cloves minced garlic
2 ½ T. vegetable oil, divided
4 oz uncooked pasta**
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 Tsp. Red pepper flakes
1 Tsp. Lemon zest
1 T. Lemon juice
½ cup Fresh cilantro, minced  (or 1 T. dried)
4-6 un-marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped***
¼ cup Grated parmesan
1 cup heavy cream

* Depending on the size of the shrimp, use as many as the diners will eat. I used frozen shrimp.
**I used rotini, because I like the way it holds the sauce, but you can use whatever you want.
***Frozen artichoke hearts are available from Trader Joe’s – or substitute asparagus.

For this recipe, you’ll need a fairly large pot. The version I did for one person filled up a 12 in. skillet. For two people I would use something like a Dutch oven or a wok.

1. Toast the pine nuts on medium heat until they look toasty and set them aside.
2. Heat one tablespoon of oil on medium high heat until it’s just shimmering and sauté the shrimp for 1 minute per side. Remove the shrimp from the pan.
3. Cool the pan to medium low, add ½ tablespoon oil and the garlic. Cook the garlic slowly stirring frequently until it’s a pale golden brown. Be careful not to overcook it because it will become bitter.
4. Stir in the broth, red pepper flakes, and pasta and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer vigorously over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the pasta is nearly tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Uncover and to continue cooking, stirring occasionally, another 5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, remaining tablespoon of oil, cilantro, artichoke, parmesan cheese, toasted pine nuts, and heavy cream.
7. Heat on medium heat until sauce is thickened, then fold in shrimp until well coated.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

0

0