Pasta Pomodoro – Angel hair pasta with sautéed shrimp, garlic, tomatoes and basil. Only 30 minutes!
What’s your quick meal during the week? Mine often includes angel hair pasta because it cooks in just 3 minutes. My other alternative is shrimp, which also cook almost as quickly.
In this Pasta Pomodoro with Shrimp, we use both and toss them with quick-cooked fresh tomatoes (that’s the “Pomodoro” part), garlic, and basil.
September is peak tomato season here in Sacramento, even more so than August. Our tomatoes all ripen at once, catching the last rays of sunshine before we slide into autumn. They’re sweet and ripe, perfect for a quick pasta dish like this one.
Fresh tomatoes need to be peeled, which you can easily do by slicing them and blanching them in boiling water. Our time-saving trick? Since you’re already boiling water for the pasta, you can use that water to blanch the tomatoes for a minute before cooking the pasta.
Pasta pomodoro with shrimp
To safely thaw frozen shrimp, place them in a bowl of ice water.
ingredients
-
1/2 pound angel hair paste
-
3/4 pound raw, peeled, deveined shrimp (medium)
-
4 medium-ripe tomatoes
-
3 garlic cloves, chopped
-
1/3 cup torn fresh basil leaves
-
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (divided, 1 tablespoon and 2 tablespoons)
-
Salt
-
pepper
method
-
Blanch and peel tomatoes
Fill a large saucepan with 2 liters of water. Bring to a boil. (You will use this water to both blanch the tomatoes and cook the pasta.)
Core the tomatoes and use a sharp knife to cut a small X into the bottom of each tomato. When the water is boiling, lower the tomatoes into the water with a slotted spoon.
Blanch for no more than a minute, just enough to loosen the skin. Using a slotted spoon, place the tomatoes in a bowl of ice water and reserve the blanching water.
Peel the tomato skin from the tomatoes. Halve the tomatoes crosswise and squeeze out most of the seeds and juices.
Cut the tomatoes into 1 inch pieces.
-
Fry shrimp
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and fry for 1 minute. Flip the shrimp in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium.
-
Add garlic, tomatoes, basil
Add the garlic, cook a minute more. Add chopped tomatoes and basil. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for another minute and remove from the stove.
-
Cook angel hair noodles
Add a tablespoon of salt to the water you used to blanch the tomatoes. Bring to a boil again. Add the angel hair noodles and cook for 3 minutes.
-
Add cooked pasta to shrimp and tomatoes
Drain the pasta and immediately add to the pot with the shrimp and tomatoes. Drizzle the pasta with 2 tbsp olive oil. Then stir in the pasta with the shrimp and tomatoes.
Serve immediately or at room temperature.
