Sunday, March 29, 2009

I Guess I Have Pasta Issues


As much as I love pasta, I really only love it in certain ways. As most of you know, I will order Spaghetti and Meatballs anywhere it's on the menu. And then I'll ask if I can substitute angel hair! If there is only meatballs and sauce over ziti or bowties or something like that, I'll pass. I like fettuccine - but don't normally care for alfredo sauce (unless it's just a small portion as a side dish). I like elbow macaroni only in mac and cheese and in goulash.

Is this weird? When I started typing it didn't seem weird but now the word 'therapy' is popping in my head.

Ok. So here's the point. I'm going out on a limb today and making the Penne Ala Betsy. Key word here being PENNE. I hope it's as amazing as all the reviews say it is. It's another Pioneer Woman (http://www.pioneerwoman.com/) recipe.

Side Note: My basil plant died. Did you know that fresh basil in the produce section costs 3.89!! Are you kidding me?? I could have bought two new plants for that!! Which I will - take that Publix!

Penne Ala Betsy (PW's sister)

Olive oil
Butter
1 lb of shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 lb penne or other short pasta
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper
Parsley
Basil

1. Put water on to boil for the pasta.
2. Heat a large frying pan and melt 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in pan. Sautee shrimp until opaque and then remove to a plate to cool.
3. Melt another 2 tbsp butter and olive oil in the same pan and cook garlic until slightly browning. Add onion and cook until translucent.
4. Add pasta to boiling water and cook per package directions.
5. Add 1/2 cup of wine and allow to cook down for approximately a minute. Then add tomato sauce, stirring to combine, and cream.
6. Chop parsley and basil and add to sauce to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Remove shrimp tails and chop shrimp into tiny, bite-size pieces. Return to sauce and stir to combine.
8. When pasta is cooked, drain, and then add to sauce, tossing to cover.
Day after thoughts: This was delicious. Even with the penne! I don't think Mark was prepared to like it because I think he smelled the wine that went in the sauce - but then I cooked most of that out. The only thing is neither of us thought the shrimp added anything to the dish. And we LOVE shrimp. Probably would leave it out next time and make it a meatless meal.

5 comments:

Aggie said...

Oh...this looks good. Delicious. Gosh, I love a good plate of pasta like this. Have you seen Pioneer Woman's latest pasta...roasted red pepper sauce?

I'm so happy you are enjoying the lemon chicken with veggies!! I love those kind of weekday meals!!

Donna-FFW said...

I am so glad you liked this, I have been eyeballing it and am happy to hear your review.. I will definitely have to try it now!

Mom said...

Are you sure you put enough cheese on top of that???

I would have left the shrimp whole so you could tell you were eating them.

Cat said...

Mom - that was Mark's plate. AND...I grated the cheese using my microplane. So it was like cotton candy cheese! Haha.

Elizabeth said...

Looks delicious!

Stay tuned to my blog - I'll be blogging about the toastie within the next couple of days. ;)