Spicy Parmesan Shrimp Pasta

This weather is killing me!  We've had a couple of days of nice warm 60 degree temperatures and I was in the mood for spring.  Then the bottom seems to fall out again and it was back to 20 degree temperatures.  Uuugg.  I need Spring!!! 

For my own mental health, I decided to go out in search of the early signs of Spring.  I had my camera in hand of course, so that I could document what I saw for all of you.  (I needed proof that this cold weather is going to be replaced by nice warm 70 degree temperatures soon.)

Another sign that Spring is close is the start of soccer season.  Courtney still insists that we "carbo load" the night before game day but I just can't fathom preparing spaghetti and meatballs, twice a week.  I decided to change things up a little bit last week and make a spicy parmesan shrimp pasta from damndelicious.com.

Spicy Parmesan Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 ounces penne
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, Parmesan, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce and red pepper flakes.






In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine shrimp and olive oil mixture; marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp and sauce mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2 minutes.

Stir in pasta and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve immediately, garnished with Parmesan.

This definitely looks like a great springtime meal.

I had 2 major complaints with this recipe.  The first is that it was way too oily.  It really needed a couple Tablespoons of oil and 1/3 cup was excessive.  The second thing is the parmesan cheese is added to the marinade and then poured into a skillet along with the shrimp.  Most of the cheese clumped in the bottom of the pan and some of it even burned.

I would make this recipe again with a couple of changes:  Reduce the oil to 2 Tablespoons and add the cheese at the very end.

Ciao!