So you know when you have an ingredient on hand and you decide to cook something to use up that ingredient? Well that’s how this week started. I had some zucchini and found this delicious-looking Shrimp, Zucchini and Pesto Pasta recipe from Pinterest which led me to the site Kath Eats. After I came home from the grocery store with all the fixings, I realized that my zucchini was no good. Sigh…back to the store I went (2 stores actually) but I got a zucchini and got to work. This made for a perfect week night meal!
I always enjoy a recipe that doesn’t require me to buy a bunch of stuff, and this is one of those recipes (aside from the great zucchini debacle). I just got a zucchini, red bell pepper, 1/2 pound of shrimp, a jar of pesto, and some angel hair pasta. I had some pesto, pasta, and shrimp left over too, so this recipe may be making another appearance on a busy week night. I have decent luck with frozen shrimp and I found some that was raw, peeled & de-veined and it thawed out very well. Success! I swear I haven’t cooked so much with shrimp as I have lately! 😉
While the pasta cooked, I cooked the shrimp and then cooked the veggies. Then you just combine all of the ingredients and ta-da! I debated a bit, because the original recipe didn’t seem like it combined everything with the pasta, but I hate when my pasta is all clumpy when I’m trying to eat it, so I made the executive decision to mix everything together. It was a wonderful decision!
Another decision I made after reading through the recipe was to add some extra seasoning. I’m a big proponent of seasoning my food, so it has great flavor, so I salted & peppered the shrimp. Plus if you can’t tell, I always favor a little extra spice to my food. So before I cooked my veggies I added some crushed red pepper flakes to the oil. This actually just provided a nice balance to the overall dish and wasn’t overly spicy by any means. Another success!
I have to say that I’m pretty happy to have a bunch of leftovers. I used about 7 or 8 ounces of pasta instead of 4 ounces, just to stretch the leftovers a bit. So very glad I did. Plus the next day the food reheated really well.
I’m already debating whether I should make my Firecracker Chicken again or this recipe first! Decisions, decisions.
Do yourself a favor and click here for the recipe and step by step instructions. Yum, yum, yum!
A look back:
One year ago: Learning to Love Salads – Part 9: Black Bean, Quinoa & Citrus Salad
Two years ago: Cookies and Sea Salt…Really?!
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