Angel Hair pasta with Grilled Shrimp

Saturday night, after coming back from taking the Jeep off-road all day, I was in the mood for the shrimp I had. So using Josh's iPhone (I knew that thing was good for something!) I looked up a recipe while we were at the off-road park.

I found this Linguine and Grilled Shrimp recipe on the mobile Food Network site and emailed it to myself. I didn't have any linguine and I was not in the mood to chop a ton of tomatoes, and I didn't have any fresh basil.

So this is my interpretation of pasta with grilled shrimp:

1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt & coarsely ground pepper to taste
8 ounces angel hair pasta
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 8 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup brine-cured black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
dried basil to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat grill to medium-high. Put a large pot of lightly salted water on to boil.

Thread shrimp onto skewers and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until just opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove the shrimp from the skewers and cut each into 3 or 4 pieces. Set aside.

While the shrimp is grilling, cook angel hair pasta until just tender, about 3 minutes. Drain but do not rinse.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until it just starts to brown, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, the grilled shrimp and cooked linguine; cook, tossing, until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, mix in the basil and season with pepper. Top with Parmesan, if using, and serve.

It was pretty yummy after a long day on the trail!

Shrimp Scampi

As I slowly venture into the world of seafood, I thought that shrimp scampi would be a good dish to try.

In a pan with 3 tbsp melted butter and several glugs of olive oil, I sauteed 3 chopped cloves of garlic, then added a 1/2 pound of peeled and de-veined shrimp, and sauteed them as well. I added the garlic and shrimp to more angel hair pasta than the two of us really needed, and added some Parmesan cheese and oregano. It was missing a little something and I think next time I'll be adding some Cayenne pepper and a little lemon juice.

I'll admit - I cheated on the garlic bread. But it was still really good.