More fun with alliteration! And a picture that obviously demonstrates Mr. X’s superiority at plating. This alliterative shrimp mountain was actually Saturday night’s dinner, which I’m only getting around to posting about now, despite the fact that it was totally easy and uncomplicated, because I am lazy. Actually, for once, I can claim busy-ness rather than laziness as the reason for my absence. I am currently in the midst of the one two-week period of each semester that I’m actually busy, but have decided today that I had to take my lunch break to satisfy my reading public. Ha. Aaaanyway.
Saturday night’s pasta dinner was awesome, and including prep took under half an hour. And I didn’t even buy my vegetables pre-sliced, a la Rachel Ray. The shrimp were a brilliant afterthought, too–we saw them at the market for less than the peppers cost, so in they went and I am glad they did. Not for the least reason that I got a great lesson in how to devein shrimp, way more efficiently than I did it last time I tried. Yay! Poop veins begone!
I’ll actually relay the recipe with all the prep steps included, so you can see that it really does take only about half an hour to do everything. Faster, even, if you’re a better chopper than me. I’m pretty slow with a knife, thus dooming any hopes I have of becoming a professional chef. Ah well.
Pipettes with Sauteed Shrimp and Peppers
- 1/2 lb. of dried pipette pasta (or any other small, ridged pasta shape)
- 2 T. olive oil
- 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 lb. of large shrimp (the 16-18 per pound kind)
- salt and pepper
- 3 or 4 T. pine nuts
- about 3 or 4 oz. drunken goat cheese (or another kind of goat cheese, if you prefer. The drunken goat cheese is milder and more firm, and I love it.)
- more olive oil and salt and peppper, to drizzle on the top
Put a bit pot of salted water on to boil, and start to slice up your bell peppers. You want to slice them about 1/4 of an inch thick, and keep them the original length.
Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, and add the peppers. Stir them around a bit to get them all coated in oil, then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Lower the heat, and cover for a few minutes, just to get them very slightly steamed. Then take off the lid, and keep sauteeing them, stirring only every few minutes, for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, rinse, peel, and devein the shrimp. Apparently, the best way to devein shrimp is to give them a slit down the back, and rub the backs under running water, which will wash away the vein. I think I’m a little less afraid of the shrimpy legs now. Dry the shrimps on a paper towel, and set them aside. Go stir up your peppers a bit.
The water should probably be boiling now, so add the pasta. It will probably need to cook for about 10 minutes.
Spread the pine nuts out on a small baking sheet. If you have a toaster oven, you are lucky, because they are by far the easiest tool for toasting pine nuts. Just toast them with the oven set at the lightest setting. If you don’t have a toaster oven, put them under the broiler for really just about a minute. Keep a close eye, because they burn so crazy fast it’s scary. (Mr. X tossed the pine nuts with olive oil, salt, and pepper before toasting, which I’ve never done before. They were good.)
Stir up your peppers again. They should be getting nice and soft, and kind of starting to stick to the pan a bit. They might even be browning on the edges, which is nice. Give them another two or three minutes while you cut up the goat cheese bits. Then scoot all the peppers to one side of the pan, and add your shrimpies. Let them cook on one side for a minute, then flip ’em over. Cook them only for 3 or so minutes, until they’re just pink and the backs are starting to curl out.
Drain the pasta, and portion it out into the bowls. Top them with the peppers, and then the shrimps, and then sprinkle pine nuts, goat cheese, and perhaps some more olive oil, salt, and pepper over the whole shebang. You can get artsy, like Mr. X:
Or just throw everything in a bowl, like me:
Either way, it will be super tasty, and you will be happy you are eating it. If you are anything like me, you’ll also be happy that it only took a little while to get in your belly. Yaaayyyyy dinner!