The beauty of an easy dinner...


If you are anything like me, sometimes you forget to plan dinner. Or you have only a vague idea, like ~ “oh, I’ll do something with that chicken, or ...” fill in the blank. I had one such night this past week ~ the “Oh, I’ll do something with that bag of shrimp in the freezer.” Then I got home from work, grabbed the shrimp and thought, hmm, now what? I wasn’t really in the mood for a stir-fry, and I didn’t want the heaviness of an alfredo, so I sort of split the difference and came up with what turned out to be a very yummy and easy dish prepared with what I had on hand. It was so good I thought I’d share ~ everyone can use an easy dinner this time of year, right?
Bon appetit.

Easy Shrimp and Pasta

Pound of shrimp, fresh or frozen (tails off, deveined)
Fettuccine noodles
2 Tablespoons butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Scallions
1/2 cup seafood stock or water (or even chicken stock would probably be OK)
1 Tablespoon flour
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese
About 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds (optional)

Thaw shrimp if using frozen. Put on water to cook pasta. You can cook the pasta while you are preparing the shrimp or cook it beforehand.
Add a dash of olive oil to large frying pan (it needs to be big enough to mix everything in at the end, including pasta) along with the butter and melt. Add a dash of salt and Worcestershire sauce. Chop scallions (one or two is enough) and add to pan. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring well. Add shrimp and stock/water. If shrimp are still somewhat frozen, you will likely NOT need to add any liquid, as the shrimp will take care of that for you as they thaw in the pan. Cook until shrimp just turn pink, stirring occasionally. Remove shrimp from pan with slotted spoon and put aside in a bowl. Slowly add flour to pan, stirring well to dissolve. Allow to boil, stirring well. Add cheese and stir well to melt. Toss in almonds. Reduce heat, add shrimp back to pan. Drain pasta, add to pan with shrimp and sauce, toss everything well to coat. Serve.
* Note: This made enough for about three large servings; that means there was plenty of shrimp to go around. You could easily stretch it to four servings if you make enough pasta, especially if you serve a nice salad with it.

Comments

  1. ooh, Josh would love this, he loves shrimp!

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  2. This looks delicious. I saw 'The beauty of an easy dinner' in Google reader and made a beeline to your blog. I am going to make this over the weekend.
    Hope things are calm for you...I am trying to be postive and not think about all that still needs to be done!
    Have a lovely weekend and a Merry Christmas!
    Mimi

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  3. P.S. I now have Andy William singing in my head - those oldies but goodies are the best!!

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  4. Pasta is always our go to quick meal.
    I've had the pasta and shrimp but not with
    the cheese...this sounds super :0
    have a great weekend :)

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  5. Mmmmm! This looks really wonderful. I will have to give it a try sometime! :)

    ((Hugs))
    Laura

    ReplyDelete

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