Thursday, March 18, 2010

Jaw-dropping Pasta!

Jaw-dropping Pasta!

Ingredients:

-Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for cooking pasta)
-Kosher salt
-3/4lb good linguine
-3 tablespoons Unsalted butter
-2 ½ tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for cooking seafood)
-6 cloves garlic (minced or finely chopped – DO NOT smash with back of knife)
-1 pound large shrimp (I used ½ a bag of Jumbo Frozen Shrimp)**
- (Optional) - 4 large scallops (I used frozen scallops here as well)**
-1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
-1/3 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves (chopped up)
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons, seeds removed)
-1/8 tsp red pepper flakes (use as much or as little for added heat)

Directions:

In a large boiling pot, add 1 tablespoon of salt and a drizzle of EVOO. Once water is at a rolling boil, add the linguine and cook according to package.

Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium low heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Be careful as garlic burns easily and will ruin your entire dish! Next, add the shrimp (& scallops) to butter/olive oil blend (I season mine with a little salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon first), add 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh black pepper and sauté shrimp until they turn pink (scallops will also be ready once the shrimp are pink). Flip them over once. After about 5 minutes remove from heat and add the parsley, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine. (You will think this is a lot of parsley, but it's so subtle, you will hardly notice it.)

After draining the pasta, put back in pot and immediately add your shrimp and sauce. Toss well with tongs and plate it up! I like to add some fresh Parmesan on top!!!

**When using frozen seafood, be sure to thaw according to package instructions ahead of time for quick preparation.

If you prep the ingredients ahead of time, the whole process will only take you about 20 minutes to prepare. It is so good – I hope you try it!!!