Recipe: Easy Spaghetti w/ Shrimp

[thesilversiren]

One of the recent big changes in my life has been that I’ve been diagnosed as being anemic. So I’ve been ordered to up my intake of iron both through pills and food. One of the easy fixes I’ve had is added shrimp to recipes- since it thaws quickly and cooks very quickly.

This is a really simple dish and can be done easily in the time it takes to cook the pasta.

Ingredients
1 package of spaghetti
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 servings of frozen/fresh shrimp, cleaned (see package for serving size based on shrimp size)
1 clove garlic, diced or run through a press.
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Begin boiling water for spaghetti. Once water’s reach a rolling boil, add the spaghetti to the water. Don’t forget to salt the water and add a little oil to keep it from sticking. I know, the jury is out on whether or not it helps, but I err on the side of caution.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, and add 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil. Add in the completely thawed (and dry) shrimp (season with salt & pepper) and the garlic. Shrimp cooks quickly, so turn when it’s started to turn pink and take the shrimp out of the pan and set aside on a plate. Also, make sure that the garlic doesn’t scorch.

3. In the pan, add the contents of a can of diced tomatoes- it’s up to you how much liquid you add from the can. Use the liquid to de-glaze the pan. Sounds tricky, but all there is to it is that you add liquid to a hot pan and use the liquid to help get the bits of meat you seared up off the pan to add to your sauce. Don’t forget to use your spoon to help scrape it up!

4. Lower the heat to medium, medium low and let it simmer away while the spagetti continues to cook. You aren’t cooking it down entirely (I liked the slightly raw quality to it). Don’t forget to taste it and add pepper or salt as you need it.

5. Drain off your pasta water (add a little to the sauce if you did cook it down a little too much), and add the shrimp back into the sauce. Stir it up a bit and plate it up!

I went into a lot of detail here, but honestly- the total time (including thawing my shrimp) was how long it took for the water to boil and the spaghetti to cook. So about 20 minutes total. Quick, easy and tasted super fresh!

Originally published at Whitney Drake. You can comment here or there.