Yummy & Easy Shrimp and Pasta Dish!

I love a good home-cooked meal ~ and if that meal includes pasta, even better!  One of my very favorite home-cooked meals in the whole wide world is shrimp and linguine {or shrimp scampi}.  There are probably a million versions of this recipe out there, but this one is ours that we have tweaked and modified bit by bit over the years.  We switched from white pasta to whole wheat a few years ago; from fresh broccoli to frozen {it's cheaper and just as, if not more, nutritious since it's flash-frozen at the height of  its' freshness}; and bit by bit I think we've added more garlic as the years have gone by.  There are a lot of approximations with this recipe ~ a lot of eyeballing instead of actually measuring.  I had my husband give me his version for this blog ~ I tend to be a bit more heavy-handed with the spices than he is {more "shakes"}.  See where the recipe takes you and tweak it until it's just perfect for your family ~ of course, I think it's pretty perfect as is!

Shrimp and Linguine

1 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 lb bag of frozen broccoli
1 box whole wheat linguine {we use Nature's Promise brand}
1 glass white wine {pinot grigio - approx 6 ounces}
6 cloves garlic, minced
Approx 1 Tbsp dried basil {8 "shakes" or so}
Approx 2 Tbsp dried oregano {12 "shakes"}
3/4 cup - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil {enough to coat pan plus a bit more}
Salt and pepper
Grated cheese

Place a medium {4 quart} saucepan with about an inch of water and a large {6 quart} saucepan filled 3/4 full with water over medium-high heat to boil.  Place broccoli in a metal colander over medium pan to steam, covered.

Coat both sides of peeled shrimp with salt and pepper.  Place a saute pan with olive oil over medium-low heat.  Once oil is warm {a minute or so}, add minced garlic to pan.  Let garlic simmer for 1-2 minutes, taking care not to let garlic burn {you don't want garlic to brown ~ turn heat down if necessary}.  Add basil and oregano and let simmer for a minute.  Add wine and turn heat up to medium; simmer until the alcohol smell has burned off {3-4 minutes, approximately}.

At this point, the water in large saucepan should be boiling.  Add pasta and cook according to instructions on box.

Turn the heat under saute pan down to low.  Place the shrimp, laying flat and not overlapping one another, in pan.  Allow shrimp to cook on this side until the tails and sides turn pink {approximately 3 minutes, but watch carefully ~ shrimp can overcook very quickly}.  Flip shrimp to other side using tongs and allow to cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Add cooked broccoli to saute pan and turn off flame.  Serve shrimp/broccoli/oil mix over linguine with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!



xoxo
Bean

{photo credit:  asweetpeachef.com}