Quick Pasta Saturday

Lemon Pappardelle with Tomato, Basil and Shrimp

Had a nice day yesterday playing golf in the morning and then running errands and ding some stuff around the house with CW in the afternoon.  While out buying light bulbs (yes, it was that kind of riveting afternoon!) we decided that we'd dine in and have some wine to relax after a busy day.  CW had recently bought some lemon-pepper pappardelle at Trader Joe's and I suggested a "fresh pasta dish" incorporated it.  When asked what I meant by fresh, I said veggies and shrimp (which we had in the freezer).  CW, always on the culinary ball, suggested tomatoes and basil to go along with the pasta, and off to the market we went.

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

In addition to tomatoes and basil, we also picked up some mixed greens and avocado for a salad.  We had a pink grapefruit at home already so a salad of greens, sliced avocado, and grapefruit was born.  Citrus and avocado is a salad combination made locally famous in CW's family, so this certainly was not a creative stretch on our part, but it is a great flavor match nonetheless.  The acidity of citrus juices cuts the creamy richness of avocado nicely.  We tossed it with a simple dressing of grapefruit juice, olive oil, and champagne and balsamic vinegars.  It was pretty tasty as is, but did benefit from a bit of added sea salt - which got me thinking.... they must put a lot of salt in commercial salad dressings.  Anyway, it was a salad that both tasted and looked great.  Also, it was made entirely by CW - so she gets the credit for the way it looks!

Grated garlic on the really cool garlic grating dish my friend gave me!

The Raw Veggies

Moving on to the main course, I decided to build a sauce around some softened diced onion, tomato, garlic, and white wine.  First, I prepped all the veggies - dicing the onion and tomatoes, grating the garlic, and giving the basil a rough chop.  I also had my shrimp defrosting during this time.  To quickly defrost shrimp, a good method is putting the frozen shrimp in a zip-lock bag with warm (not hot) water and letting it sit in the sink while you do your other prep work.  This usually will defrost shrimp in about 20 minutes and does not risk starting to cook the shrimp like microwave defrosting can do.  After defrosting this way, it's important to dry them with a paper towel so they are not to wet when go to cook them, especially if searing, since a dry surface with sear better then a wet protein.

After prepping, I sauteed the onions in olive oil over medium heat until they were translucent and starting to brown a bit.  Then I deglazed the pan with white wine and added in my diced tomatoes and garlic and continued to cook over low heat.  Finally, I added the thawed shrimp to the mix and cooked it all over low heat, so as not to dry out the shrimp, and to allow all the flavors to meld.  I also snuck in a pat of butter at this point to add a bit of richness.

Shrimp Cooking with Tomatoes and Onions

 While all this was going on, my lemon pappardelle was cooking in a pot of salted boiling water.  I cooked it a minute less than the package instructions because I planned on adding the pasta to my sauce pan, where it would inevitably continue to cook a bit.  Once the pasta was almost done, I transferred it to the sauce pan with tongs.  I didn't strain it first, but instead used the tongs so that the noodles would be wet - the pasta cooking water has lots of starch in it and that helps thicken the sauce and get all the flavors inter-mingled.  To the pasta I added the chopped basil and another pat of butter. Then I tossed the whole thing to coat the pasta and get all that basil stirred in.

Close-up with Cheese and Black Pepper

When all was done, I topped the servings with some shaved grana padano cheese and a bit of fresh black pepper.  It turned out to be a very delicious pasta dinner.  The pasta itself has a great lemon flavor, so I am glad I didn't add more lemon juice... which I had considered.

CW and I enjoyed the meal with a bottle of pinot gris from the Anne Amie winery in Oregon - see my blog entry for details on that fine place.

That's all for now - hope everyone had a great weekend!

As Served to CW!