Toasty Skillet Spaghetti with Shrimp
(from Bethany’s recipe box)
Serves 4
Cooking the pasta right in the pasta sauce infuses it with flavor and streamlines cleanup.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To prepare our spaghetti with shrimp, we seared the shrimp over high heat until just barely cooked through, then set them aside while we prepared the sauce and pasta. We used just one pan for cooking both the shrimp and the pasta so the finished dish picked up the flavors left behind by the shrimp. Cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce infuses flavor and streamlines the preparation.
Source: Cook's Country December/January 2012
Categories: Fish and Seafood, Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 pounds extra-large (21 to 25 per pound) shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
- Salt and pepper
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 8 ounces spaghetti, broken in half
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Directions
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Pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground, about 5 pulses. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook bread crumbs until golden, about 5 minutes. Add half of garlic and 1/8 teaspoon pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds; transfer to bowl. Wipe out skillet with paper towels.
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Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of shrimp and cook without moving it until spotty brown on first side, about 1 minute; transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining shrimp. Add tomatoes, water, pasta, remaining garlic, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper flakes to now-empty skillet and bring to boil. Cover and cook over medium heat until pasta begins to soften, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until pasta is nearly al dente, about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cook over medium-low heat until shrimp is cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in basil. Sprinkle with toasted bread crumbs. Serve.