SHRIMP SCAMPI ANGEL HAIR WITH SPINACH & TOMATOES
On a recent out-of-town trip with my youngest daughter for her soccer tournament we had a team dinner at a well-known family restaurant chain. What we would not do for our kids, right? Because of my offspring's dislike of any kind of fish, I always grab the opportunity to order some seafood for myself. I chose an angel hair shrimp scampi but unfortunately I was not too impressed. The shrimp was ok but my pasta was way overcooked, a serious crime in my kitchen. So, consequently I decided to make a very tangy-liscious, perfectly al dente version of it by myself, for myself.
Ingredients for 4 servings: (don't let the pics fool you, only shows one serving)
- 1 pound of fresh or frozen shrimp peeled, deveined, tails removed
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced, pressed or chopped
- 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1/2 cup of vegetable stock
- juice of 1 lemon, 2 if you like it even tangier
- 1 box of small grape tomatoes, cut in half
- 8 ounces of fresh spinach
- 1 pound of angel hair pasta
In a large pot, boil water with salt. Meanwhile, in a non-stick skillet melt butter with olive oil on medium high heat, add shrimp. If frozen, place in cold water for few minutes before cooking to defrost. Saute shrimp on both sides until pink, add garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, make sure garlic does not burn. Add wine, stock and lemon juice. Simmer for a few minutes to reduce liquid a little. At this point you can start cooking your pasta but be very careful, if your instructions say 4-5 minutes, do not go over 4 minutes. You want to make sure it is al dente, not too soft and mushy. After draining the pasta, sprinkle it with olive oil and set aside.
Back to our shrimp skillet: add spinach and toss it around, let it settle a little, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes to warm through, for another couple of minutes. Top it with angel hair and gently fold all ingredients together. Serve immediately on warm plates. It has such a lovely tangy taste, probably does not even need any cheese but I am a hopeless Parmesan addict so if you are like me, go ahead and add some. Enjoy!
