Creamy Shrimp and Veggie Pasta

Mr. Insanity and I were talking about places I actually enjoy being at, other than home. I am a known homebody. My list was church, target and the supermarket. I am sure most people can relate to target, I swear they pump something into the air that has some sort of addictive quality, but I know most people hate the supermarket. In my defense, I go on Saturday with out any kids. I always have my list and a pretty solid idea of the meals for the week, but I never know exactly what produce I am going to buy. I love looking through produce and feeling inspired by the beautiful colors of the veggies, and the aroma of the herbs. Often I will find myself making small changes to the menus based on what catches my eye in the produce department. I always put tomatoes into this pasta, they help make the sauce, but the other veggies are definitely negotiable. I used asparagus, broccoli and summer squash today, but I have used carrots, snow peas, zucchini, and spinach in the past. I mostly look at the colors and try and get a blend to really make a beautiful dish.I start by cleaning and peeling the shrimp. I take the whole shell off because honestly, I do not want to be picking out shrimp shells while I am trying to eat my pasta. I also make sure to remove the black vein that runs down the back of the shrimp. I use a knife and cut down the back and remove the vein with the tip. You can also buy shrimp that is deveined if you don’t want to deal with that.

Next, I put a large pot of water on to boil, I toss in a handful of salt as well. Then I get to chopping up my summer squash, asparagus, and broccoli into small chunks. I get those into a bowl to wait for the water to come up to a boil, and slice up my onion into thin slices, mince my garlic and halve my tomatoes. By the time I am done prepping all of the veggies the water is at rolling boil. I add the squash, asparagus and broccoli all into the boiling water. I let it boil for three minutes. While it is boiling I get ice and water into a bowl and then I scoop the veggies out of the boiling water and into the ice water.

I keep that water on the stove though, I am going to use it for my pasta. Before I start on that though, I get a second large pot onto the stove. I set the heat to medium high and put a little butter into the pan. I pat all of my shrimp dry with a paper towel and sprinkle them with a little bit of salt and pepper and into the pot they go.

I cook them for about two minutes and then flip them all over and cook for another two minutes. Then they come out and onto a plate to wait. Into that pot go my onions and garlic. I also add my pasta to my boiling water at this point. My linguini takes about ten minutes and that should be just enough time to get the sauce together. I sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes. I then toss my tomatoes into the pot and the juice from one lemon and try and get all of the yummy bits up off the bottom of the pan.

I cook the tomatoes for about a minute and then add some cream into the pot.

At this point I leave the sauce alone for about five minutes, it just bubbles away over the medium high heat. Then I drain off my veggies and add those in along with my shrimp.

When the pasta is just about done, get it into the sauce and let it all cook together for a minute or two. Turn off the heat, add the Parmesan and some fresh parsley and stir that all together.