Mardi Gras with a Shrimp Monica
Prep and Cook: 30-40 minutes
A coworker gifted me this recipe. It was a famous crawfish recipe he had been making for his family after finding it from a cook. He had a few variations and shared this one with me. I wanted to make something fun for Mardi Gras and this fit the bill. I love pasta and really love creamy pasta dishes and super love shrimp creamy pasta dishes. This was a match made in heaven. I did half the ingredients to make a smaller portion than was in the original and that’s the version I am sharing. I think my version could have easily fed 4 people if I had added more shrimp. I also did all of this in a cast iron skillet (minus cooking the noodles)
Ingredients
1/2 lb of penne noodles (or honestly any noodle you want. This was originally for fettuccine and I saw it with spirals as well.)
6-7 (or however many you want, you do you man) jumbo shrimp with tails
1 tbls virgin olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
1 small yellow onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cajun spice (or make you own, I had to. (garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme))
Pinch of Salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tbls lemon juice
1/2 cup Parmesan (or as much as you want)
Prep
Cook the noodles in boiling water for about 11 - 13 minutes for that al dente status
Drain most of the water, but leave maybe 1/4 cup of it still in there.
Add the olive oil and stir to coat the noodles
Cover and keep warm while you do the rest
In a medium warm skillet melt the butter
Chop the onion and add to the melted butter
Stir and cook for about 5 minutes until fragrant and softened
Crush the garlic
Add the Cajun seasoning, extra cayenne, and garlic to the skillet and stir to warm through about a minute or so
Add the wine and cook on higher heat until it reduces almost all the way (evaporates) and stir around
Reduce the heat to medium and add cream and lemon juice and stir for a few minutes until it reduces just a tad
Add the shrimp and stir and cook until warmed all the way through (I bought pre cooked frozen shrimp and had it in a bowl of cool water to defrost before hand to make sure it was ready and wouldn’t take too long.)
Add the marinating pasta in and toss it to mix it all up with the sauce
Cook until the pasta is warmed through again, about 1 minute
Remove from the heat and dump in the Parmesan and stir to mix. Add more whenever you want.
Afterthoughts
I had too many noodles so the sauce didn’t cover as much as I wanted.
This was creamy and had that wonderful kick that you get with Cajun food. I wish I had more spice in it though. It was great but wouldn’t have hurt to have more. The shrimp was a perfect choice and the penne was great as well. I loved the creamy mixture with the spice to make a special taste. The wine was to help the cream not get too thick and it did it’s job. I had a blast making this, and eating this. This easily feeds a few people and doubling the ingredients will feed a party of friends and family easily.
