Creamy Shrimp Pasta With Mushrooms

Creamy Shrimp Pasta With Mushrooms

Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Mushrooms in a homemade alfredo sauce.  The creamy pasta sauce is made with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika.  Serves 4

 

Ingredients
8 oz fettuccine pasta (for gluten free version, use gluten free brown rice pasta)
½ cup cooked pasta water (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb shrimp (10 big shrimp or 20 small shrimp without shells, deveined)
3 garlic cloves minced
¼ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 oz mushrooms thinly sliced
1 cup half and half
½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
½ cup Mozzarella cheese shredded

Directions:
Cook pasta
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Reserve some of the pasta water.

How to cook shrimp:  Heat a large skillet until hot - add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and immediately add garlic and shrimp. 

Cook on one side for about 1 minute until pink, on medium-high heat.
Flip the shrimp to the other side. Sprinkle the top of the cooked side of shrimp with dry basil, paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, and salt. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until shrimp is pink on both sides. 

Remove the shrimp from the skillet. If shrimp is a little undercooked - it's OK because you will continue cooking it in the sauce.

How to cook mushrooms:  To the same, now empty, skillet, add sliced mushrooms. Add more olive oil if necessary.

Cook on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms become soft and release juices. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt midway through cooking.

How to make creamy sauce

To the skillet with mushrooms, add cooked shrimp. Immediately add 1 cup half-and-half. Bring to boil.

Add half the cheese (½ cup). Bring to boil, and immediately reduce to medium-simmer. Cook, constantly stirring, until the cheese melts.
Gradually start adding the remaining cheese (½ cup), while stirring. 

Do not add all of the remaining ½ cup of cheese at once. Add just enough for the sauce to get creamy without getting too thick. You might not use all of the remaining cheese. 

Remove from heat. Taste, and add more salt if needed.

Add cooked and drained pasta from step 1 to the skillet with shrimp and mushrooms and cream sauce. Reheat on medium heat. Stir well.

If the cream sauce is too thick and you want it thinner - add some pasta water in small amounts to the cream sauce (while the sauce is simmering on low-medium heat) until you reach desired consistency.
Season with more salt and add more crushed red pepper flakes and basil, if desired.  Serves 4

Notes

What is half-and-half?

Here is what to do to substitute for 1 cup of half-and-half:  combine ½ cup milk and ½ cup heavy cream.

Provencial Tomato Sauce, Julia Child

Provencal Tomato Sauce ~  Julia Child

Preparation 
Yield: About 1 quart
Time: About 1 hour 30 minutes
Julia Child's Provençale Tomato Sauce

This is an under-the-radar basic from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” featured in a New York Times article about readers’ favorite Child recipes. It is a tomato sauce with onions, garlic and basil, raised high with a perfumed whiff of orange peel and coriander seed. Make it when the farmers’ market is overflowing with good tomatoes, freeze it in plastic bags, and use it until there is no more. It is a combination of two things Mrs. Child loved: good technique and fresh Provençal flavors. It is a great recipe. —Julia Moskin

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
⅔ cup finely minced yellow onions
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
5 to 6 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
⅛ teaspoon sugar, plus more totaste
4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press
A large herb bouquet: 8 sprigs parsley, 1 bay leaf and 4 sprigs thyme, all tied in cheesecloth
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, oregano,marjoram or savory
Large pinch saffron threads1 dozen coriander seeds, lightly crushed
1 2-inch piece dried orange peel (or 1/2 teaspoon granules)
2 to 3 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)

Directions:
In a large heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until tender but not browned. Sprinkle on the flour and cook slowly for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally; do not brown.

Meanwhile, fit a food processor with the coarse grating blade. Working in batches to avoid overfilling the machine, push the tomatoes through the feed tube to make a coarse purée.

Stir the tomatoes, sugar, garlic, herb bouquet, fennel, basil, saffron, coriander, orange peel and 1 teaspoon salt into the pot. Cover and cook slowly for 10 minutes, so the tomatoes will render more of their juice. Then uncover and simmer for about an hour, until thick. The sauce is done when it tastes thoroughly cooked and is thick enough to form a mass in the spoon. Remove herb bouquet and taste. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and tomato paste, and simmer two minutes more. The sauce may be used immediately, refrigerated or frozen for up to 6 months.