Song of the Shrimp

Sorry that the picture is a bit blurry...I've got crappy lighting in my kitchen and only have my crappy camera on my phone to take photos with, but I just wanted to show you guys what I made for dinner tonight. I love pasta and I love shrimp, so what better way to pair two of my favorites then by making some spicy shrimp pasta?

Here's what you need (I get about 3 big size portions out of this):

Half a pack of organic spaghetti (I go to my cheap grocery store and splurge on their organic line of pasta and canned tomatoes and salsa and I find that the organic stuff really does taste a bit better)

1 Can of organic diced tomatoes

3/4 of a cup of white wine, I used some random cheap Chardonnay from in my fridge and just eyeballed the amount and it turned out fine

1/2 cup of fresh basil (caterpillars have gotten in to my bush so there wasn't a lot to pick tonight and you could tell this would taste better with more fresh basil)

Shrimp (I like it a lot so I think I used about quarter pound for this and that would be a good amount once it cooks down for two people, just throw in as many as you want)

2 tablespoons of garlic

1-2 tablespoon of olive oil

Sprinkles of Oregano and and other Italian dry herbs you have in your cupboard

3 tablespoons of medium organic salsa

pinch of black pepper

About a tablespoon of sugar

pinch of hot chili flakes

Directions:

Add olive oil to pan and heat up. Add garlic and let garlic fry for about 8 minutes....it should get golden but not too brown.

Add water and a lot of salt to a pot of water and bring it to a boil. I like my pasta to be salty and I didn't add any salt to the sauce itself, the saltiness will come from the pasta and it is important to ALWAYS salt your pasta water because it causes the water to boil at a higher temperature and pasta needs to be boiled at that higher temperature. It's also important to not overcook your pasta. It shouldn't be too soft and like slimy and wanting to fall apart-it should have a slight amount of resistance when you bite through it. Once the water is boiling, add your spaghetti to it and stir it around. Check at about 8 minutes to see how done it is.

To your garlic and olive oil add the herbs, pepper, chili, tomatoes, wine, sugar, herbs, and salsa. Bring to boil and let simmer. Simmering times can vary...If you want a thicker sauce than you need to simmer the sauce for about 20-25 minutes or tonight I was lazy and hungry and only simmered the sauce for about 5 minutes before adding the shrimp to it and it turned out fine but it was a bit watery at the bottom of my bowl.

Throw your shrimp in to the sauce and bring up the heat slightly. The shrimp should start turning pink after only a few minutes and once they are not see through your sauce and the shrimp are done.

After draining the water from the pasta, pour it in to a big bowl and pour the sauce and shrimp over it and toss the sauce through the pasta. You can add more basil and some parmesan cheese on it now if you'd like, I didn't. BEWARE: This pasta is pretty spicy because of the salsa and chili flakes!! I like it and I hope if you try it, you will, too.