I think every mom needs a handful of really quick easy recipes in their back pocket for nights when you forgot to thaw meat, the husband has low blood sugar and the kids are raiding the pantry. For me, this is one of those. But I’m one of those weird people who usually has a bag of frozen shrimp and a jar of pesto on hand. (I’m a foodie I ‘spose). Anywho… buy the ingredients if you must because this one is EASY, FAST and delicious… here goes:
Pesto Shrimp Linguine With Asparagus Tips
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Ingredients
- One Pound large shell on shrimp
- One Bag of linguine
- Handful of Asparagus
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3/4 Cup Pesto (Best price found at Sam's club)
- 3/4 Parmesan Grated Cheese
- 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream or Half and Half
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- Zest of One Lemon
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Juice of One Lemon
Instructions
Turn your outdoor grill onto medium/high- Take your shrimp out of the freezer, and put olive oil into the bag with the frozen shrimp, shake the bag well so that all the frozen shrimp get well coated in oil, drain any excess oil out of the bag into the trash, set aside.
- Put your pasta water onto medium/high heat on the stove to start the pasta water boiling.
- Throw the shrimp onto the grill, the oil will likely cause a bit of flaming up, so that’s why you’ll want to have drained the excess of prior to doing this. Set your indoor timer for 8 minutes, that’s how long you’ll want those shrimp on. Don’t worry about flipping them.
- In a pan heat butter on low. Add garlic to brown for about a minute being careful not to burn the butter or garlic.
- Chop onto the top inch of the asparagus in small pieces and add to the butter, cooking for another minute
- If your water is boiling, add the pasta.
- Keeping the temperature on low, add the pesto and cream to the butter mixture and whisk till well combined.
- Add the cream slowly while stirring until creamy, smooth and fully combined.
- Add the cheese, salt, pepper flakes and lemon zest and keep stirring every 30 seconds or so until the sauce is cheese is melted.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice, stir to combine, and turn heat to lowest setting to keep warm.
- Remove shrimp from grill, drain your pasta if it’s ready, and peel the cooked shrimp when they’re cool enough to handle. Believe it or not, they are way easier to peel when they’re cooked than raw. Season the shrimp lightly with salt,pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
- Serve the pasta with sauce and plenty of shrimp on top.
Notes
Grilling shrimp is the easiest, least messy, tastiest way to cook it. AND when cooked in their shell, it allows you to prepare it directly from frozen. Because they begin their cooking process so cold, it prevents them from overcooking. Try it if you're skeptical, you'll be sold!
