What's for dinner: Shrimp and Pesto Penne

Not much in this world is more satisfyingly simple than pesto.  Throw some shrimp in the mix and you have yourself quite a little meal going.  In fact this is what I had for dinner and it was so satisfying that I planned on having some left overs but ended up eating it all, oops.  While you can use store bought pesto, using fresh ingredients to make your own makes it that much better.

The meal can be broken down into three parts: Pesto, Shrimp, and Pasta

Pesto
The most important ingredient when making a pesto is the basil and you will need a lot of it.  Next you need some sort of nuttiness.  Typically, pine nuts are used but since they are ridiculously expensive I use either walnuts or cashews which both have a similar flavor but are a fraction of the cost. Along with the basil and nuts, throw a few cloves of garlic and a healthy amount of parmigiana cheese into a food processor or blender.  While you are running the machine, begin to pour olive oil in slowly.  Keeping pouring until the mixture gets to the desired texture.  Add a little salt, pepper and red chili flakes to taste and you're good to go.  This pesto can be used for different applications.  One of my favorite sandwiches is a combo of turkey, pesto and brie.  Also, you can toast this on bread then top with bruschetta.  For pasta applications, you can either use this mixture as is or heat it up with a little bit of milk or cream to give it a more creamy texture.

Shrimp
Since there is so much flavor with the pesto, I keep it simple with the shrimp.  Toss them with salt, pepper and olive oil then toss in the over at 350 degrees for a few minutes until they turn pink.  This way to cook shrimp keeps them very moist and cooks them VERY quickly.  I recommend roasting shrimp like this for any type of pasta or even other dishes where you are thinking about adding shrimp

Pasta
While most people know how to make pasta, many people do not know the benefits of finishing off pasta with the sauce.  If you cook your pasta 95% of the way there then combine with the sauce over a low flame to finish, the pasta keeps absorbing moisture from the sauce enhancing the flavor of the pasta.  When I do this, I also keep a little bit of the water that the pasta is cooking in to add to the sauce so the sauce does not all dry up when finishing the pasta.  This applies not only for pesto sauces but even more so to tomatoe based sauces.  If you're adding shrimp, add them at this point so you can avoid over cooking the shrimp.

If you want to really do it up, serve some garlic bread on the side and you'll have yourself quite the feast going.  The pesto could be made before hand and frozen or refrigerated until you plan on using it to speed the preparation up even more.

Enjoy!!!