Caprese Summer Pasta with Shrimp

Hey-o! Sorry I've been gone so long. I needed to take a little break to travel, prepare for an upcoming event I'm doing Memorial Day weekend (more on that later!) and do some fundraising.
I made this pasta for dinner last week, and it earned rave reviews. I served it hot, but you could also serve it cold, or even in place of a pasta salad at a picnic. It's fresh and the flavors are bold, and that makes it a perfect dish as the weather gets warmer.

I used gemelli pasta for this recipe, because I think the spirals hold onto the sauce better, and I like the denser texture. If you have all the other ingredients, by all means don't go to the store -- use what you have on hand for pasta!

Enjoy!

Caprese Summer Pasta with Shrimp
Serves 4

Ingredients
8 ounces gemelli (or your favorite pasta)
1/2 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined*
1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
4 ounces goat cheese (NOT herbed)
1 cup raw spinach
2 tablespoons salted butter
3 cloves of garlic,* minced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup pasta water, reserved*
salt for pasta water
pepper

Tools
large pot for pasta
large sautee pan
grill*

Boil water for pasta, cook pasta as directed, reserving about half a cup of salted water. WHILE the water boils...

Remove tails from shrimp. Toss in a bowl to coat with olive oil. Salt and pepper to season. Grill until the shrimp turn pink on both sides, turning once. Put aside.

In large sautee pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add garlic, spinach and tomatoes. Stirring frequently, cooking for 3 or 4 minutes or until spinach is completely wilted.

When pasta is done, drain (do NOT rinse) and toss into pan with tomatoes and spinach. One-quarter cup at a time, add pasta water and toss with pasta and vegetables to evenly distribute. Crumble goat cheese over the hot mixture, and stir to combine. Some will melt. That's OK.

Add shrimp, serve.

Notes
*Garlic: If you read this, you know I often use jarred garlic. This recipe is no exception. If you use the ginormous jar of Spice World Garlic I do, use about 1 tablespoon for minced garlic for this recipe.

*Shrimp: In the last 5 years, I've cooked many, many, many shrimp dishes. I'm a seafood person. I've used every type of shrimp you can buy -- frozen, fresh, raw, cooked, salad, jumbo, extra jumbo and everything in between. I try to use 16-20 count shrimp for my recipes, but they aren't always available. When they aren't, I go with 31-40 count. For this recipe, any size should work, as long as you have about half a pound. For the raw/cooked debate... I VASTLY prefer raw shrimp. Once you cook them, they take on the flavor of what you're cooking. If you use the cooked kind, they tend to taste brininer and like, well, seafood water. Who wants to eat that? Go for raw. If you get them frozen (that's OK!), put them in a bowl of cold water (yes, cold). Let them sit for 5 minutes. Drain, and refill with room temperature water. Let the shrimp sit for a good 10 minutes and they should thaw. Take them out of the water, peel, devein and de-tail them. Ready to cook!

*Pasta water: What a simple and magical ingredient! The pasta water's job here is to bind all the ingredients together. Rather than using tons of butter or olive oil, add pasta water and it instantly makes a sauce. It keeps everything most and not too oily, and adds tremendous flavor.

*Grill: I used our outdoor gas grill for this, because I love to grill. I love the flavor imparted to the ingredients from it, and it really tastes like summer to me. If you don't have a gas grill available, feel free to use a George Foreman grill or even a grill pan. If you still don't have that available, use the olive oil and just roast the shrimp in the oven. We aim for versatility! :-)

Recipe #8: Pasta e Fagioli

When I was a kid, my mom made this soup once, and I remember going with her and my sister to bring it over to my great grandfather's for him to try. I don't remember his reaction, or whether he liked it, but I remember that whenever that was -- I'll guess about 15 years ago, maybe -- it was the best soup I'd ever had. It wasn't complicated and it wasn't expensive to make. It was basically a mixture of stuff anyone would already have in their pantry. A few weeks ago, I asked my mom about it, and if she remembered how to make it. To my surprise, she still had the recipe. When she sent it to me, I expected long detailed instructions, but after receiving a list of ingredients and two basic instructions, I called her to see if maybe she forgot part o the recipe. She told me she had gotten it from a chef on TV and just had a pen to write down the ingredients. Well, I've added a couple things of my own and I think I've gotten a pretty good soup. One item of note: It drives me absolutely crazy when I have seen repros of this recipe over the years and they include meat. Even Olive Garden's version contains meat. Traditional Pasta e Fagioli (which our family pronounces pasta fa-zool) doesn't have any meat in it, it has beans and tomatoes, because they were cheap "peasant foods." There was no meat in the real thing, so in mine still there shall be no meat! :) Please note -- wherever you see a (*) next to an ingredient or tool, there is a comment about it below the recipe. Enjoy!

Pasta e Fagioli

Cook time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic*
1 15-ounce can Great Northern Beans*
dash thyme
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
8-10 fresh basil leaves (4 whole and 4 ripped or chopped)
2 quarts chicken broth
2 cups dry pasta*
4 tablespoons tomato paste

Tools
Large pot
Mixing spoon

Heat olive oil and garlic in pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add can of beans and liquid and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in tomato pasta, mix to combine. Add four chopped/ripped basil leaves, thyme and parmesan cheese, mix to combine. Allow to cook for 3-5 minutes.



Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add pasta, allow to cook for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender.



Serve as is or garnished with a basil leave and topped with parmesan cheese and olive oil.



*Comments:
-Garlic: I don't usually use fresh garlic when I cook, unless it's going to be almost raw in the dish. What I use instead is a huge jar of Spice World minced garlic. It saves me the time of having to chop (and have my hands smell like) garlic for any given recipe. For this recipe, if you use the jarred garlic, use two tablespoons.

-Beans: If you can't find "Great Northern Beans," you can use cannellini beans. Just remember not to rinse them off or discard the liquid in the can. Adding the beans AND the liquid gives the broth a good amount of starch.

-Pasta: I used small shells for my soup, but any tiny pasta would work. Don't use a large pasta, or it will absorb a lot of space and you'll end up with more pasta than broth. Try a small variety or Barilla Picollini for tiny versions of big pasta!