This week I was definitely craving some pasta, but I wanted something a little different. Pasta can certainly be a bit heavy, especially baked pasta. But then I came across an interesting recipe on, you guessed it, Tasty Kitchen‘s site. It claimed to be a “light” baked pasta dish, and I was intrigued.
I don’t cook a lot with shrimp, and I usually am not patient enough to wait for pasta to bake, so I thought that this recipe would be good for me…expand my horizons, you know? I remember hearing or reading a few months ago that you are better off getting frozen seafood of any kind than buying it fresh. That’s because (certainly in the Midwest), the “fresh” seafood isn’t so fresh. In fact, the frozen variety actually is frozen very quickly once the seafood is caught, so it truly is fresher. So I was off to the frozen food aisle to get my pound of deveined, uncooked shrimp with the tail off. It thaws in about 15 minutes, and is a pretty painless endeavor, which I’m all for!
Everything else for this dish was pretty standard and truly came together very quickly. The pasta only had to bake for 15 minutes or until it’s nice and bubbly. The light alfredo sauce is what takes the longest, and it was very fast to make. I like giving you this information so that you have no reason not to make a dish like this, especially during the week. I know this week was pretty busy for me, and I had dinner on the table in less than an hour, which is always a plus.
I shared this dish with my friend, who agreed that the end result was really light and didn’t weigh you down at all. The tomatoes were fire-roasted and added a lot to the flavor of the dish. The light Alfredo sauce was lightened by low fat evaporated milk, an ounce of light cream cheese, and a little chicken stock. This was definitely a winner (A+ was the consensus), and I was just sad that it only made 4 servings. If you have a big family, be sure to double it, so that you are left with plenty of leftovers. And just a heads up…this is a garlic-filled dish so beware and make sure to share the garlic love with everyone!
For the recipe and step by step instructions, click here.
What I was cooking up a year ago: Mixin’ It Up with my Rice Cooker
I was so excited about my new rice cooker last year and discovered two delightful recipes that made me feel very creative…and satisfied!
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