tagged: clean food, light meals, pasta, recipes, shrimp

20 minutes I can’t get back

Posted by Erika in rad*kitchen

I had been standing alternately,  in front of the refrigerator or my pantry, for over 20 minutes yesterday.  Waiting for the synapses to fire, waiting for some sort of universal answer about dinner.  My friends always lament that they wish they could just put things together,  but I am here to tell you, even people who cook for a living, have lackluster and uninspired moments.  In my case yesterday, about 20 of them.  It was like writer’s block for chefs.

I can’t say just what brought on the bad kitchen juju; rainy and 50 degrees in the last week of May?  It’s really tough to make something hot that tastes bright and fresh like summer.  It’s a little like herding cats. 

I finally was inspired by a little lemon and artichoke and decided to make a go of it.  This is super simple and takes about 20 minutes to prepare.  You can make the artichoke mixture ahead and refrigerate to save prep time.  It’s really creamy without being full of fat.  And it tastes really summery.  I can also attest that it’s pretty good cold, too.

Lemony Angel Hair with Shrimp and Asiago

Artichoke Mixture:

4 oz (1/2 block) low-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 – 2 ½ cups water-packed artichoke hearts, drained

¼ cup shaved asiago or parmesan cheese

zest of ½ lemon

salt & pepper

4 tablespoons lowfat milk

Blend all ingredients in food processor. 

1 tomato, vine ripened, de-seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped herbs

1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

juice of ½ lemon

1 pound Barilla Plus Angel Hair pasta

2 tablespoon olive oil

Add chopped tomato and ½ the herbs to the artichoke mixture. 

Boil water for pasta. Add Angel hair and cook

Lightly quick sauté shrimp in 2 teaspoons olive oil, set aside.

In a large bowl, add your artichoke mixture and 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Drain pasta and immediately add to bowl while still hot.  Let sit for a minute to melt artichoke mixture.  Toss gently and add shrimp.  Garnish with remaining herbs and serve.

Blend artichoke mixture ingredients in food processor. 

If you like more lemon, by all means add more zest.

Then slice tomato horiontally and scoop out seeds with small spoon, then chop.

This tomato preparation is technically a french technique called a concasee, but I skipped a few parts.  I figured since I wasn’t feeding the Sarkozy’s tonight, no one would catch on.

Add your chopped tomato to the artichoke mix.

The herbs I used are some that I grow myself….this mix was chive, sweet marjoram, and basil.

Quick saute on the shrimp…seriously 3-4 minutes over high heat.  Too much longer and they will be overcooked.  Just until they turn pink…deglaze the pan with the lemon juice.

Drain pasta quickly and add to bowl with artichoke mix.

Add shrimp to bowl and some of the warm shrimp/lemon liquid from the pan.  Toss pasta gently until pasta is coated.  If too sticky, add more shrimp/ lemon jus.  Garnish with herbs and serve.