Spaghetti with Shrimp & Lemon Oil Recipe

My very first visit to the United States was a four day business trip to San Francisco.  From New Zealand that was a long way to go for a two-hour meeting, but back then I worked in advertising and then was the 80s - an industry and an era both renowned for their excesses.   There is much about that trip that is to this day indelibly etched in my memory, but most significant of all were some wonderful food memories.  It was the first time I ever ate nachos and drank a margarita (well, actually, more than one);  at the marina in Sausalito I enjoyed a plate of succulent oysters and my first ever tuna melt;  I ate the most heavenly dish of snails, each in tiny little pots with little pastry lids at a restaurant in Union Square that was called something like Forneaux Ovens (I could stand corrected on that one);  and lunched on linguine with garlicky shrimp at a wonderful Italian restaurant in Ghirardelli Square.

This dish in particular was an absolute revelation to me - back then we didn't really have too many Italian restaurants in New Zealand, and the only pasta I had ever eaten up until that point in my life was spaghetti (only ever with a bolognese sauce) and macaroni elbows (either in a classic mac 'n' cheese or some kind of tuna bake).  Back then, if you wanted to buy olive oil you had to get it from the pharmacist.  Much has changed here in the last 30 years, but without a doubt that day in Ghirardelli Square was the day my love for Italian food bloomed, and it has been a growing passion ever since.

When our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where as you know we are cooking with Giada de Laurentiis, was California Dreamin' her Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil was the dish that immediately evoked for me those memories of California.  As it turned out I used spaghetti because that's what I had on hand, but linguine would be the ideal.  I hope you'll try this and bring a little bit of California into your kitchen.

Spaghetti with Shrimp & Lemon Oil

Adapted from "Giada's Kitchen"

by Giada de Laurentiis

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the lemon oil:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

zest of 1/2 lemon

For the pasta:

250g (1/2 pound) spaghetti (or linguine)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

250g (1/2 pound) fresh shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 lemon, juice and zest

flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 large handfuls of rocket (arugula) or spinach

freshly chopped Italian parsley for garnishing

Begin by making the lemon oil.  Put the 1/4 cup of olive oil into a small bowl.  Using a vegetable peeler, take off thin strips of the lemon peel and add them to the oil.  Take care to avoid any of the white pith, scraping it away from the peel if necessary.  Set aside to infuse (I actually did this the day before - not necessary, but the longer you allow it to infuse the better the flavour).

Bring a large pot of water to the boil over high heat, salt the water liberally, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.  Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.

While the pasta is cooking, warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then add the shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turn pink.

Add the cooked spaghetti, a little grated zest and most of the juice of the lemon, flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Toss well to combine, then turn off the heat and add the rocket or spinach (I used about equal quantities of both).

Drizzle liberally with the lemon oil (discarding the strips of zest), sprinkle over the chopped parsley.  Toss again to combine, adding a little of the pasta water if necessary, and serve immediately.

Close your eyes and imagine you're in California.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Jen at Tastes of Home - you will be able to see a full round-up of all the submissions there on Friday 28 January.   I'm looking forward to checking out a whole lot of new pasta dishes.

Spaghetti with Zucchini & Shrimp - Pasta alle Zucchine con Gamberi

Looking for a contribution this week for Cookbook Sundays, I decided to dip into Giuliano Bugialli's "Foods of Tuscany" cookbook.  This is actually a beautiful book, one that was gifted to me some 15 years ago, and which has not been used nearly enough.  The book is a wonderful collection of old Tuscan family recipes - many are well-know favourites, and many more unusual and less widely known dishes.  The book also incorporates beautiful photos, and much interesting narrative about the cultural and cooking traditions of the Tuscan region.  I was surprised how much dust this book had gathered on my shelf, and I had forgotten just what a treasure it is - it was a thrill to revisit it and I've bookmarked several dishes to make over the coming weeks.

The recipe I want to share with you today is spaghetti served with zucchini and shrimp which are cooked in a saffron-infused broth.  The brightness of lemon, the earthiness of saffron, the warmth of garlic, and the fresh herbaceousness of parsley combine perfectly to deliver a dish which is delicate and light (nothing overpowers the delicateness of the shrimp or the zucchini);  the spaghetti, zucchini and shrimp are all in textural harmony with each other;  and even served family-style in a big bowl, this dish still has an air of elegence and luxuriousness to it.  Add to this the fact that this dish literally takes just moments to put together, and you have an absolute winner in my opinion.

Spaghetti with Zucchini and Shrimp

Adapted from Giuliano Bugialli's

"Foods of Tuscany"

 Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2 small zucchini, sliced into thin discs

250g peeled shrimp

1 lemon, washed

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

pinch of saffron

1 cup chicken stock

flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

250g spaghetti

1 large tomato, very ripe

flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Put the shrimp into a bowl of cold water, and add a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.  Cut the lemon in half, squeeze out the juice, and then put both the juice and the squeezed lemon halves into the bowl with the shrimps.  Set aside to soak for 30 minutes.

Heat the chicken stock until very warm (but need not be boiling), and add the saffron strands to the hot stock to infuse.

Set a large pan of water over high heat and bring up to the boil.  Once the water comes up to a boil, salt the water liberally, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.

Remove seeds from the tomato, and cut the flesh into small squares.  Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet set over low heat and, once warm, add the garlic and saute gently for about 2 minutes, taking care not to burn it.

Add the zucchini to the pan, raise the heat to high, season with flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and saute for about 30 seconds.  Add all of the chicken stock and saffron to the pan, cover and cook for 2 minutes more.

Now remove the shrimp from their "lemon bath" and add them, along with the tomato, to the skillet.  Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes until the shrimp turn pink and are just cooked through.

Drain the spaghetti, add it to the skillet, sprinkle in a handful of chopped parsley, and mix everything together gently but thoroughly.  Serve immediately.

I'm submitting this post to Cookbook Sundays, hosted by the lovely Brenda at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.  She's worth a visit any day of the week, but why not head over there right now and see who else has dusted off their cookbooks - you'll almost certainly find some great recipes, and maybe you'll discover a new book you'd like to add to your collection.

Interested in adding a copy of "Foods of Tuscany" to your collection - this book was published back in 1992, and does appear to be unavailable most places I looked, but Amazon seem to have both new and secondhand copies available - just click the link below.

Spaghetti Carbonara - Cooking Italy 4

This was another assignment for the Cooking Italy group (a group dedicated to learning to cook Italian food through the recipes of Marcella Hazan from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking), and one I was very eager to complete.  After all, spaghetti is one of my favourite foods (surely it should be a food group in its own right), and so is bacon - I may not be much of a meat eater, but I go completely weak for bacon.  Put the two of them together and ... what can I say ... normally anything that good is illegal!

The story goes that towards the end of World War II, American soldiers stationed in Rome would take eggs and bacon to the local families, with whom they had made friends, and ask them to make pasta sauce from the produce.  Whether or not that is true, this dish is considered to be a Roman classic.

I've made a few Carbonara sauces over the years, from a variety of sources, many of which have probably been somewhat dubious in their authenticity.  Most of the recipes I've used in the past have included cream, which does not appear in this recipe, and none have included wine which Marcella does include in hers.  I really liked both of these variations - the absence of cream definitely produced a much lighter version than I have been used to, and the inclusion of the wine (I did tweak that a little mind you - read on) added some depth and complexity (and a certain brightness) to the flavour that I found really pleasing;  it also cuts through the richness of the eggs.  I actually didn't have a bottle of wine open, so I substituted 1/4 cup of vermouth to which I added about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice - I often do this when I'm making risotto if I don't have a suitable bottle of wine open.

Marcella's original recipe claims to serve 6.  I used the same quantity of sauce ingredients to feed two people, with 1/3rd of the pasta.  That said, bear in mind, that Italian people generally (as I understand it) would not use as much sauce with their pasta as I usually tend to do - the idea I believe is that the sauce should just coat the pasta, rather like a dressing on a salad.  I think also that at the Italian table a pasta dish would generally be served as an appetiser, or part of a multi-course meal, whereas in our house the pasta dish is usually the main meal itself, so I like to serve rather more sauce than might be traditional.  In summary, I think the quantities I've given here could probably stretch to serve 4 (I'm really not sure that it would serve 6, unless it really was an appetiser), and you should allow about 125g pasta per person.

Without a doubt, this will become a regular stand-by in our house.

Spaghetti with Carbonara Sauce Recipe

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Serves 2-4

Click here for a printable copy

250g pancetta or bacon, in one piece

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 large free-range eggs

1/4 cup pecorino romano, freshly grated

1/4 cup parmesan, freshly grated

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

125g spaghetti for each person

Cook spaghetti in plenty of rapidly boiling salty water.

While spaghetti is cooking, cut the pancetta or bacon into strips.

Remove skin from garlic, and then crush slightly - just enough to "open" the garlic clove up a bit, without completely disintegrating it.  Put the garlic, together with the olive oil, into a cold skillet over a medium high heat.  Once the garlic becomes a deep golden colour remove it and discard it.

Add the strips of pancetta or bacon to the pan.  Once it has become crisp and browned, add the wine to the pan and allow it to bubble away for a couple of minutes, then remove pan from the heat.

Break the eggs into the bowl in which you plan to serve your completed pasta dish.  Whisk them lightly, add the pecorino and parmesan cheeses, the chopped parsley, and lots of freshly ground black pepper,  Combine everything well.

Drain the spaghetti, and add to the egg mixture in the bowl, and toss rapidly until all the spaghetti is coated well with the mixture.

Briefly return the pancetta to a high heat to warm through, and then empty the pancetta (together with any oil and rendered bacon fat in the pan) into the pasta bowl, toss well, and serve immediately.

We enjoyed this with nothing more than a simple green salad and some crusty bread.

Spaghetti & Pesto with Potato & Green Beans Recipe - Cooking Italy 2

 

Let me begin by telling you, before you suddenly leave the page, that this tastes a whole lot better than it looks in this picture.  So here's the scenario:  dinner is piping hot and ready to serve, partner is starving and hanging out for dinner, but wait I need to photograph it first before we can eat - and, oh no, camera batteries are flat and so are the spares.  iPhone to the rescue thankfully to snap off a quick photo, but somehow it's just not the same.  Nevertheless, this tasted incredibly good (think comfort food that's still good enough to impress company) - so keep reading.

This was my second assignment for the Cooking Italy group (a group dedicated to learning to cook Italian food through the recipes of Marcella Hazan from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking), and turned out to be another one of those "prepare everything ahead, assemble at the last minute" dishes that you know I love so much - the pesto and potatoes were prepared earlier in the day, then spaghetti and beans cooked, and dish assembled just before serving - as I just mentioned this dish is easily good enough for guests, and you won't be spending all your time in the kitchen instead of with your guests.  I think this would also be good even with the pasta cooked early (maybe some of your favourite shapes, rather than spaghetti), and then everything assembled and served at room temperature as a salad.

Marcella says of this dish:  "When serving pesto on spaghetti or noodles, the full Genoese treatment calls for the addition of boiled new potatoes and green beans.  When all its components are right, there is no single dish more delicious in the entire Italian pasta repertory."  I think she's right.

As far as the pesto goes, I wrote about it not so long ago in this post, so you know my feelings on the subject.  Now I am certainly not going to go all "pesto-police" on you and tell you that you must make your own.  However, it seems that the whole point of this dish is the pesto, so if you are only ever going to make pesto once in your life I would urge you to make it now. As to which method you should use, I recommend the mortar and pestle method (I really believe the texture and taste is superior), but if the thought of doing it by hand is the only thing that gets between you and making your own pesto then go right ahead and blitz it up in the food processor - instructions are given here for both methods. Regardless of whether you buy a ready-made pesto, or follow the recipe here, there is one unique ingredient to Marcella's pesto and that is the addition of some butter at the end.  Sounds a bit weird I know, and I have to admit I was skeptical, but it works - it gave a lovely, velvety creaminess to the pesto, the magic of which I think is more apparent once it is actually incorporated in the dish, and it seemed to me also that once the butter was added the pesto somehow increased substantially in volume.  So even if you use a store bought pesto in this dish, take the time to add the butter before tossing it through the pasta and vegetables.

A note about quantities - Marcella's original recipe states that it serves 6.  To serve two people, I used exactly her recipe, but just cut down the quantity pasta.  So my ratio of vegetables and "sauce" to pasta was probably considerably more than would be traditional, but I was pleased with the results and you should feel free to adjust quantities to suit your own tastes.

Spaghetti & Pesto with Potato & Green Beans Recipe

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Vegetarian

Click here for printable copy

For the pesto:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons pine nuts

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

coarse sea salt, large pinch

1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano

2 tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature soft

Wash basil leaves in cold water, and gently pat dry with paper towels.

If making in a mortar and pestle:  Put basil, garlic, pine nuts and salt into the mortar, and using the pestle grind everything into a paste.  Add both cheeses and grind evenly into the mixture.  Add the olive oil, pouring in a thin stream, beating into the mixture with a wooden spoon.  Once it has all been incorporated, beat in the butter until evenly distributed through the pesto.

If making in a food processor:  Put basil, olive oil, chopped garlic, pine nuts and salt  into the bowl of the processor, and process to a creamy consistency.  Remove from processor and transfer to a bowl, then mix the two cheeses in by hand.  Then mix in the softened butter and beat until everything is thoroughly amalgamated.

Set aside.

For the pasta (for 2 people):

3 small new potatoes

250g young green beans

pesto, as above

250g spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)

Boil the potatoes, skins on, until just tender.  Once cool enough to handle, peel and slice thinly.

Cut the ends off the beans and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, salt liberally.  Add spaghetti to the rapidly boiling water to cook.  Approximately 3 minutes before the spaghetti finishes cooking, add the beans into the pasta pot.  Spaghetti should be al dente and beans cooked through, but neither too soft nor too hard.

Before draining the cooked pasta and beans, remove 2 tablespoons of the pasta water and stir into the pesto to loosen.

Drain, and toss the cooked pasta, beans and potatoes together with the pesto.

Serve immediately.  I also sprinkled some extra grated parmesan over the top.