Wednesday, April 4, 2012

A Birthday Dinner

Last night was my father-in-law's birthday. Since my mother-in-law was out of town his 3 boys stepped up and invited him to meals. The youngest son bought him lunch, the middle son provided him with dinner #1 and the oldest son provided him with dinner #2. Actually I'm positive that the oldest son did nothing but eat dinner #2 and the wife (aka me) made the dinner. Since I didn't know what time I would be home I turned to an easy dinner that I had been thinking about making for a long time. My take on Shrimp Diablo.

Shrimp Diablo (Laurie's Version) - serves 3

24 shrimp, peeled (I generally make 8-10 shrimp/person for my pasta dishes)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
160g linguini (yes I weigh my pasta in grams)

1. mix together shrimp, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Combine, tomato paste, diced tomatoes (including liquid), basil, salt, garlic in a bowl and set aside. (If you want to add some heat to your sauce, add 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes)
3. When you are ready to make dinner, heat the pasta sauce in a pan over low heat for 10 mins and start your pasta going.
4. When water for your pasta is boiling, add the shrimp to the sauce and turn the heat to medium high and cook shrimp until pink and "c" shaped.
5. Cook your pasta
6. Serve shrimp on top of your pasta. ENJOY!

Along with my version of shrimp diablo, we had steamed asparagus and plum cobbler for dessert. MMM. I sure hoped my father-in-law enjoyed his birthday dinner #2 because I know I sure did.