I like to serve the shells with shrimp to continue the "ocean" theme, and this dish literally comes together as the pasta itself is cooking. It couldn't be easier or tastier. It's a perfect weeknight dinner when you need to get dinner on the table quickly. Just make sure you leave the shrimp to thaw in the fridge the night before.
EASY PASTA WITH SHRIMP
- 1/2 bag of Trader Joe's cooked, peeled shrimp, thawed
- olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 cup of halved organic cherry tomatoes
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- juice of half a lemon or orange
- a handful of chopped, fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 box of Barilla shell pasta
Put pasta water on to boil (be sure to salt the water). In the meantime, put 3-4 glugs of olive oil in a saute pan and heat over medium heat. When garlic starts to turn golden, dump in cherry tomatoes and shrimp and warm through. This should only take a minute or two. Do not "cook" the shrimp, just warm them, or they will get tough. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Cook pasta about a minute less than package directions indicate (my trick for perfect al dente pasta every time). Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water. Dump pasta into a bowl along with the tomato-shrimp sauce and enough of the pasta cooking water to loosen. You may not need all the water. Squeeze lemon or orange over, add parsley, toss and serve. Cheese isn't served with this pasta.
