The countdown is on… I’m leaving for Italy soon, so my meal planning includes trying to clean out the fridge and freezer before I leave. I had some frozen shrimp in the freezer and some leftover nduja in the fridge that I decided would be a great combination for a pasta dish.
If you don’t know it, Nduja is a soft, spreadable and bold Calabrian cured meat. When we are in Italy, Nduja is quite available, and I can find it both fresh and in jars. In North America, however, nduja is much harder to find, so I order mine from I go to Artisans. (They also sell salami and truffle lard!)
This pasta is a pasta that can be prepared in a few minutes, in fact I start preparing the sauce after boiling the pasta water. I used casarecce pasta, which is a short, twisted pasta shape, but you could use almost any pasta shape in this recipe, including spaghetti.
This is a quick and easy pasta dish that can be modified depending on how spicy you like your food. I recommend starting with a quarter cup of Nduja and then adding more if you like more heat. We like things pretty spicy, so I use about a third of a cup of this amazing pepperoni in our pasta.
My shrimp were large, so I simply cut them into three pieces to match the size of the pasta, but if you use medium sized shrimp you can leave them whole. The only trick with this pasta is to barely cook the cherry tomatoes and shrimp so that the cherry tomatoes keep their shape and the shrimp stay tender.
Enjoy your meal!
Debora Mele
ingredients
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1 pound pasta (see notes above)
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3 tablespoons of olive oil
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3 cloves of garlic minced
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1/2 pound medium-sized shrimp, shelled and shelled
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2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
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3 tablespoons fresh basil, cut into thin slices
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1/4 to 1/3 cup nduja (see notes above)
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Zest of 1 lemon
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Juice of 1/2 lemon
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Salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
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Chopped Fresh Parsley Leaves
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil for the pasta.
- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and shrimp and cook for two minutes, stirring often.
- Add the tomatoes, basil, Nduja and lemon zest and cook until the tomatoes soften, about 3-4 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Once the water has started to boil, cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water.
- Return the pasta to the pot, add the shrimp and tomato mixture, and stir to combine over high heat.
- Add the lemon juice and cook a minute or two until hot.
1 - Serve the pasta in individual bowls sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley.
Nutritional information:
Product: 6
Portions: 1
Quantity per serving:
Calories: 308Totally fat: 9 gSaturated fats: 1 gTrans fats: 0 gUnsaturated fats: 7 gCholesterol: 160mgSodium: 794mgCarbohydrates: 34 gFiber: 3 gSugar: 7 gProtein: 22 g
