Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Dinner last night using the fresh pasta from our farm share box last week.

 

**Just a couple of tips if you are not used to cooking with fresh pasta. Make sure that you separate the pasta before dumping it in the water. The linguine we had was all nicely packaged and stuck together. If you don’t separate the pasta it will clump together in the water and not cook properly. Also, fresh pasta takes a lot less time to cook than dried. I boiled the linguine about 3-5 minutes and it was perfect.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

1 pound large shrimp peeled and de-veined
salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 tbls extra virgin olive oil
12 garlic cloves minced
1 can diced tomato (28 oz) drained
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 pound linguine or spaghetti
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 tsp dried basil
pepper

Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot for the linguine. Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the red pepper flakes. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat. Add the shrimp to the skillet in a single layer and cook, without stirring until the bottoms of the shrimp turn spotty brown, about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir the shrimp.

Transfer the shrimp to a medium bowl and set aside. Let the skillet cool for about 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of the remaining oil and 3 tablespoons of the garlic to the cooled skillet and cook over low heat, stirring often, until the garlic foams and is sticky and straw colored, about 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, the tomatoes, wine, sugar and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened about 8 minutes.

When the water is boiling, stir in 1 tablespoon salt and the linguine. Cook, stirring often, until the linguine is almost tender but still a little firm to the bite. Don’t forget that fresh pasta takes less time than dried. Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, the parsley, basil and the reserved shrimp with any accumulated juice into the tomato sauce. Continue to simmer until the shrimp are heated through, about 1 minute.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the linguine and return it to the pot. Stir in the shrimp sauce and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste, Add the reserved pasta cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce before serving.