Spicy Shrimp & Spaghetti Aglio Olio
This was recipe was in the totally awesome cookbook that my mother and sister collaborated on to get me as a housewarming gift. As we hit the one year anniversary of moving into our house this weekend, it seemed an appropriate time to break this one out.
Spicy Shrimp:
2 pounds jumbo shrimp, peeled & deveined [See NOTE 1]
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, crushed & peeled
1 teaspoon coarse salt (approximate, salt to taste)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
[1] Combine all spicy shrimp ingredients in a bowl. Toss to coat shrimp evenly.
[2] Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, then add half of shrimp. Cook shrimp for 3 minutes or until pink and just firm. Remove shrimp to a warm platter and repeat with the remaining shrimp.
Aglio Olio:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 2oz tin anchovy fillets
6 to 8 cloves garlic, crushed & peeled
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
coarse salt
1 pound [1 box, usually] spaghetti, cooked to al dente
[3] Return skillet to heat and reduce heat to medium low. Add olive oil. Add anchovies, garlic and red pepper flakes. Break up anchovies with a wooden spoon until they melt away into the garlic and oil mixture.
[4] Toss spaghetti in skillet with parsley and garlic oil. Season with coarse salt to taste.
[NOTE 1] We used about 1/2 a pound of shrimp, and that fed two people quite nicely with no shrimp left over. 2 pounds would probably feed 4 people with plenty left over.
This takes a little less than 30 minutes to make, most of which is spent cooking the pasta. On the plus side, this recipe is quick and easy to make, and you probably have everything except the shrimp and anchovies in your house right now. On the minus side, it is super garlic intensive - we didn't use nearly as much garlic as the recipe called for and it was still plenty tasty. Even with the stove fan at full power I still smelled like garlic afterwards. Oh wait, that's a plus too :-)
The only real problem was that when we tossed the spaghetti in the skillet, we couldn't fit all the spaghetti in at once. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the first of 4 batches of spaghetti to be tossed absorbed almost all of the Aglio Olio, leaving subsequent batches bereft of all but the slightest remainders of the delicious taste. Next time I'll dump the Aglio Olio into a bowl and divide it evenly among the batches of spaghetti.
Don't like anchovies? Leave them out, as the taste can be slightly overpowering if it's not to your liking. Allergic to shrimp? I suspect that tiny cubes of chicken, properly browned and then added to the marinade, would be pretty tasty, although it wouldn't be quite the same from a texture standpoint.
Spicy Shrimp:
2 pounds jumbo shrimp, peeled & deveined [See NOTE 1]
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, crushed & peeled
1 teaspoon coarse salt (approximate, salt to taste)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
[1] Combine all spicy shrimp ingredients in a bowl. Toss to coat shrimp evenly.
[2] Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, then add half of shrimp. Cook shrimp for 3 minutes or until pink and just firm. Remove shrimp to a warm platter and repeat with the remaining shrimp.
Aglio Olio:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 2oz tin anchovy fillets
6 to 8 cloves garlic, crushed & peeled
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
coarse salt
1 pound [1 box, usually] spaghetti, cooked to al dente
[3] Return skillet to heat and reduce heat to medium low. Add olive oil. Add anchovies, garlic and red pepper flakes. Break up anchovies with a wooden spoon until they melt away into the garlic and oil mixture.
[4] Toss spaghetti in skillet with parsley and garlic oil. Season with coarse salt to taste.
[NOTE 1] We used about 1/2 a pound of shrimp, and that fed two people quite nicely with no shrimp left over. 2 pounds would probably feed 4 people with plenty left over.
This takes a little less than 30 minutes to make, most of which is spent cooking the pasta. On the plus side, this recipe is quick and easy to make, and you probably have everything except the shrimp and anchovies in your house right now. On the minus side, it is super garlic intensive - we didn't use nearly as much garlic as the recipe called for and it was still plenty tasty. Even with the stove fan at full power I still smelled like garlic afterwards. Oh wait, that's a plus too :-)
The only real problem was that when we tossed the spaghetti in the skillet, we couldn't fit all the spaghetti in at once. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the first of 4 batches of spaghetti to be tossed absorbed almost all of the Aglio Olio, leaving subsequent batches bereft of all but the slightest remainders of the delicious taste. Next time I'll dump the Aglio Olio into a bowl and divide it evenly among the batches of spaghetti.
Don't like anchovies? Leave them out, as the taste can be slightly overpowering if it's not to your liking. Allergic to shrimp? I suspect that tiny cubes of chicken, properly browned and then added to the marinade, would be pretty tasty, although it wouldn't be quite the same from a texture standpoint.