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Who says Lenten meals have to be boring? Shrimp toss is so good, you’ll serve it often.
Versatile Shrimp
Much like ground beef, shrimp is one of the most versatile proteins around. You can do so much with shrimp and since they’re often on sale, that’s a real bonus.
Shrimp toss is basically a pasta primavera with some shrimp added. It’s a wonderful dish and I still can’t decide whether it’s the shrimp or the pasta that’s my favorite part of this. This is one of those childhood meals I’ve always loved. And since it’s a recipe my mother favored, I’m pretty sure that is quite healthy. My mother was into healthy eating long before it became a vogue.
Tomatoes
My mother always used fresh. However, in winter, fresh tomatoes don’t have such a great flavor. The only divergence from my mother’s recipe is that I use canned diced tomatoes–and fire roasted for a fuller flavor. I learned from Julia Child that canned tomatoes are all “summer” tomatoes and therefore are more flavorful. So I pretty much stick to the fire-roasted canned unless someone gives me tomatoes from the garden.
If you make this in the summer and you grow tomatoes, definitely use your home grown.
Pasta
This recipe is best with a straight long pasta. Regular and thin spaghetti work very well here and so does linguine and fettuccine. Because it’s a light dish, angel hair is good as well.
Try to avoid thick chewy styles such as bucatini or any tubular pasta. These are personal preferences, of course, but a thicker pasta would overwhelm the rest of the dish.
A little tip I picked up with pasta dishes such as this is always reserve a bit of the water you cooked the pasta in to toss in if necessary. A tablespoon or two seems to make these types of dishes a little oomph.
The Recipe
Shrimp Pasta Toss
Ingredients
- 8 oz uncooked spaghetti
- 1/4 cup butter
- 12 oz medium-large shrimp cleaned & deveined
- 1 small green pepper chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely minced or pressed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes drained fire roasted preferred
- 1 tbs fresh basil chopped
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti per package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large skillet until it sizzles. Add onion, shrimp, green pepper, garlic, salt & pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until shrimp turns pink. Stir in tomatoes and basil.
- Place the cooked spaghetti into a large bowl and top with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and toss to combine.
