January 25th - Spaghetti with Shrimp

January 25th – Spaghetti with Shrimp

More proof that my cooking goes in cycles. A few days ago I was saying that I hadn’t cooked pasta in a while and now we have two pastas dishes a few nights a part. I had gone into work early and was supposed to get out of work early, but things didn’t work that way. I shouldn’t complain because I was able to scoot out a few hours early last week, but I got home in a crabby mood but still wanted something good to eat, but didn’t want to stop at the store on the way home. I knew I had some shrimp in the freezer and started to thaw them cold water while I came up with a plan. Before you give me grief about using frozen shrimp, be aware that most shrimp that’s sold commercially has been frozen. If you buy it non-frozen at your fish monger, ask if it was previously frozen. Most of it has been. Shrimp doesn’t hold well unfrozen, so unless you live near a shrimp region, chances are you’re paying premium dollars for something that was already frozen. My advice, and also that of such people as Mark Bittman, is to buy shrimp frozen. It’s normally cheaper because you’re not paying someone else to thaw it for you. I normally thaw it in cold water. Sometimes I add some salt to brine it a little, but most times it’s just a quick thaw in plain old water.
I thawed the shrimp and realized that the fastest thing to do was probably to make some pasta. I chopped some garlic and added it to a pan with olive oil and a little bit of crushed red pepper, while I got a pot of water boiling for the pasta. I cut the garlic into large slices so it would have a chance to flavor the oil before it burned. When the garlic was golden brown I pulled the pan form the heat. I added some spaghetti to the boiling water and let it cook until just before it was al dente (since it will cook in the sauce). I grabbed a little bit of the pasta water for the sauce in case I needed some liquid.
While the pasta drained, I threw the thawed shrimp into the pan on high heat so it cooked through in about 1-2 minutes. Then I added the spaghetti and tossed it. It need a little of the pasta water to smooth it out. Then I finished it with some lemon juice and (in a most un-Italian fashion) parmesan cheese. I had more Belgian Golden ale because it has worked so well for the tuna and capers with lemon a few nights before. A quick meal and on the table in the time it took to cook the pasta.