This pasta though! Move over fancy-pants Italian restaurants because this pasta just swooped in to remind everyone cooking Italian food at home is SO EASY! That’s right, if you have 25 minutes and a few fresh ingredients then you are on your way to this delicious pasta soaked in a creamy sauce, and topped with fresh basil and parm cheese. You in?
Of course you are in or you wouldn’t be here, gawking at that pour shot like a 13 year old boy with a nudie mag. I mean, not that I was ever a 13 year old boy or anything, but I was just thinking.. well.. ya know what forget I ever said that and let’s get back to the food porn!
And now…. it is food blogger confession time brought to you by 3Boys Unprocessed! Confessions are as followed:
- This pasta is not whole wheat
- I’m not as excited about this post because it isn’t a cupcake
- I’ve recently become obsessed with cupcakes
- Did I mention the word cupcake?
Yes, you read that correctly. I’m using refined pasta but baking whole wheat cupcakes. That totally makes sense doesn’t it? Hmm… I know, I know it’s totally crazy but just let me go on with my crazy self and let’s all pretend they are both whole wheat so I can feel a little less crazy.
My refined pasta was imported from Italy and had a sparkly and official “Italy” sticker on the bag. You know, like the best sticker EVER that we all longed for in Elementary School. A seal of approval, if you will. I looked at it EVERY TIME I was at the grocery store, longing for it’s beautiful ridges to take pretty pictures of and plop some big bad shrimpies on top of. Last time I was at the grocery store somehow it ended up accidentally falling into my cart and I totally thought it was whole wheat when the cashier swiped it over that cool scanner. You know, because my kids were yelling about wanting coloring books and other crap they throw near the cash registers to lure all the parents into buying. Even though I totally said NO WAY to the coloring book, somehow the pasta slipped by my radar. Ok, truth is, it looked cool so I bought it! A slight lapse in Real Food judgment but hey, we are all human right?
And about those cupcakes… you see I was always kind of obsessed with cupcakes (hence a big ol’ pink cupcake tattoo on my foot), but my cupcake obsession was lying dormant for a while I was on an ice cream binge.. I mean eating healthy. 😉 I kid, I kid! The ice cream binge never happened but babies did and I just haven’t had all the time in the world to bake pretty things. Now I have a food blog as an excuse so the cupcake madness just might be back for good!
Now that all my dirty food laundry is aired I guess we can get back to this creamy and delish pasta that could be served up for any occasion, including a Monday night! You can totally throw a curve ball in your life by making this epic pasta on a Monday and surprising your spouse like you are newlyweds or something. Remember, it only takes about 25 minutes to put together so throwing this together on a weeknight is do-able and easy!
Just a little FYI, I used a homemade chicken stock that I did not season yet. If you are using a boxed stock, check the ingredients for MSG (labeled MSG, autolyzed yeast, yeast extract) and choose a stock that is lower in sodium and doesn’t contain anything you wouldn’t put in your own stock. If you are interested in making your own (super easy I promise!) check out my post on Everything you Need to Know About Making Your Own Chicken Stock.
And then that pesky sauce went all up on the side of my sauté pan to ruin this beautiful picture. Please ignore and maybe it won’t happen again! 😉
5
Lemon Basil Shrimp Pasta
By Published: September 30, 2014
- Yield: 2-3 Servings
- Prep: 5 mins
- Cook: 15 mins
- Ready In: 20 mins
This pasta though! Move over fancy-pants Italian restaurants because this pasta just swooped in to remind everyone cooking Italian …
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat pasta any long pasta will do!
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 Tbsp butter salted
- 2 cups chicken stock homemade or low sodium prefered
- 1 Tbsp whole wheat white flour
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 tsp pink himalayan or kosher salt
- 10-15 fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream
- 10-15 wild caught shrimp
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Mince fresh garlic, and cut fresh basil into thin strips.
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat melt butter and garlic. Cook until garlic is fragrant and tender. Add flour, and whisk until smooth.
- Add chicken stock, juice of 1/2 a lemon, and salt. Stir until smooth. Add parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Remove from heat and stir in heavy cream.
- Steam shrimp, season with salt, pepper, and a squirt of lemon juice. Toss pasta, sauce, shrimp, and more fresh basil and parmesan cheese together and serve.
Am I missing it? How much shrimp did you put in? This looks so good!!
Thanks for letting me know the shrimp wasn’t on there! For some reason I’ve been having a problem with the plugin I use for the recipe cards…. it has been removing ingredients on me! Ahhh not sure how to fix that but I guess I’ll work on that tonight. 🙂 Anyways, I suggested 10-15 shrimp, however I used the biggest ones the grocery store had and I might have had a few less but they were huge. It was around a half pound. Enjoy!
I just found your blog and I love it!! My husband is going to love this recipe. How do you steam the shrimp. Why not cook it in the sauce? Thanks! Happy holidays!
Hi Lauren, thanks for your kind words! Hope your hubby enjoys the recipe 🙂 Regarding the shrimp… I have a steaming pot I use for veggies and shrimp. Got it at Target a few years back for like $18. It is just a stainless steel pot that has a basket at the top, you boil water in the bottom and it steams the food you put above it. If you don’t have a steamer, you can just boil your shrimp. I didn’t cook the shrimp in the sauce because it is a bit thicker, and I wanted to make sure the shrimp got fully cooked. I get a little weird about those things sometimes, but if you are making your sauce and are cool with throwing the shrimp in, I say go ahead! It would make one less step for you. Enjoy!
I absolutely love all your recipes! I’ve done the simple salmon and the baked chicken quarters for my mom, my girlfriend and my friends and they’ve fallen in love with my cooking! I’m excited to make this one tonight. Thanks for all the great unprocessed, overly delicious recipes!