Gosh, that picture came out pretty well if I do say so myself. I am always in a hurry to get to the table – I snap and run. Basil pesto is easy to make (if you want a recipe, see “Guest Peter makes pesto with gusto” on this site from 8/23/10). Our garden basil has come through in bumper crop fashion and we’ve got multiple tubs of pesto in the freezer (it freezes very well).
So – last night we wanted an easy, inexpensive, all in one bowl meal. If you look closely you’ll see some yellow and green beans in and among the pasta and shrimp. We’re fond of using ramen noodles in various dishes and mostly save the flavor packets to use, for example, in a poaching liquid for shrimp.
Various pasta shapes lend themselves well to various concoctions. In this case, the farfalle (bow-tie) were perfect in size so that we could eat the whole dish with large spoons. Farfalle actually means “butterflies”. Curiously enough, “farfallino” is Italian for bow-tie. Lesson over.
A word about the shrimp: these are 31-35’s, just because I got a 2-pound bag of them (frozen) for a really good price. Two pounds of shrimp will give us four meals generally. Cook your shrimp in whatever way you prefer. As mentioned above, I simply boiled 2 cups of water, stirred in a packet of chicken flavoring from a ramen package, dropped in the shrimp, took them off the heat and let them steep for 2 minutes or so.
Ok, ok, they aren’t actual prawns, but they lend an alliterative quality to the recipe title. Indulge me.
Bean and basil pesto pasta with prawns
1 box farfalle pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 cups mixed green and yellow beans, cut into 2” pieces
1 batch basil pesto
8 oz. cooked shrimp
Peter tossed the beans in with the pasta and cooked them simultaneously. Convenient, huh? Loosen the pesto with some pasta water, toss the pasta and beans in the pesto. Put in bowls and top with shrimp. (And you call THIS a recipe?)
So – last night we wanted an easy, inexpensive, all in one bowl meal. If you look closely you’ll see some yellow and green beans in and among the pasta and shrimp. We’re fond of using ramen noodles in various dishes and mostly save the flavor packets to use, for example, in a poaching liquid for shrimp.
Various pasta shapes lend themselves well to various concoctions. In this case, the farfalle (bow-tie) were perfect in size so that we could eat the whole dish with large spoons. Farfalle actually means “butterflies”. Curiously enough, “farfallino” is Italian for bow-tie. Lesson over.
A word about the shrimp: these are 31-35’s, just because I got a 2-pound bag of them (frozen) for a really good price. Two pounds of shrimp will give us four meals generally. Cook your shrimp in whatever way you prefer. As mentioned above, I simply boiled 2 cups of water, stirred in a packet of chicken flavoring from a ramen package, dropped in the shrimp, took them off the heat and let them steep for 2 minutes or so.
Ok, ok, they aren’t actual prawns, but they lend an alliterative quality to the recipe title. Indulge me.
Bean and basil pesto pasta with prawns
1 box farfalle pasta, cooked according to package directions
2 cups mixed green and yellow beans, cut into 2” pieces
1 batch basil pesto
8 oz. cooked shrimp
Peter tossed the beans in with the pasta and cooked them simultaneously. Convenient, huh? Loosen the pesto with some pasta water, toss the pasta and beans in the pesto. Put in bowls and top with shrimp. (And you call THIS a recipe?)
