Weeknight dinners are no easy feat. When I’m on a meal-planning kick and do my grocery shopping, all is right in the world. But then there are those weeks – or months – where you do a quick shop every other day just to get dinner on the table. It’s been one of those months.
I was all set to make those delicious crispy, garlicky shrimp from a few weeks back, but my husband was really craving pasta. And, being the carb fiend that I am, I caved. When I started to think about linguine coated in butter and cheese tossed with fresh tomatoes and garlic-sauteed shrimp…well I knew I was helpless. So I made a double-batch instead of the single serving I had planned.
You won’t regret this dinner. Serve it with a side salad if you want to feel a bit more virtuous and, if you manage to have more shrimp than you need, they’re great for lunch the next day!
- 1 lb shrimp, frozen or fresh
- linguine pasta
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup grated Parmesan
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tomato, diced
- salt
- black pepper (freshly-ground is best!)
- Thaw shrimp if needed by running cold water over them in a colander for 5 minutes or until pliable
- Boil a pot of salted water - it should taste like the sea - and measure out your servings of pasta
- When the water reaches a rapid boil, drop in the linguine and cook until al dente
- While the linguine is cooking, heat the olive oil in a skillet and cook garlic until fragrant
- Pat shrimp dry and add them to the skillet, cooking until bright pink. Remove from heat.
- Reserve 1 cup of pasta water (liquid, starchy gold!) then drain.
- Return pasta to the pot and stir in butter until melted and coating each strand. Feel free to add in a bit more if the pasta is not coated.
- Add grated parmesan to the pot and stir to melt, adding in pasta water to emulsify and turn the butter and parmesan into a sauce.
- Grind fresh black pepper to taste over the pasta and combine. Add diced tomatoes then stir in the cooked shrimp.
- Plate and enjoy! You might like to top it with a bit more ground black pepper or even a drizzle of olive oil.
