It’s been one of those days where I’m so focused on a project that I feel too lazy to make lunch and my brain chooses to ignore the loud rumblings coming from my belly.
I finally decided to appease my hunger and I quickly prepared a shrimp pasta dish. Initially I was just going to fry up some shrimp with a bit of butter and garlic and then toss it with cooked spaghetti noodles.
But, of course, once I got cooking and I placed the pot of water on the stove I couldn’t settle for just plain butter and garlic!
I remembered the days when I worked near Monte Carlo Hotel in Markham. I’d go to the hotel sometimes to get a freshly cooked pasta lunch made by a funny and charismatic cook. He’d have a couple of table top burners going, two pasta sauces, toppings and cooked pasta noodles. I would walk up to him and he’d ask “White sauce or red sauce?” What he meant was Alfredo sauce or Marinara sauce. He would then ask which toppings I wanted from the small bowls set up on the counter; onions, ham, green peppers, black olives, red pepper flakes etc. He’d cook the toppings first in a small pan, then the he’d add the sauce and the noodles came last. I was always very satisfied.
Remembering that particular cook I felt inspired to make something similar.
I didn’t have ham but I did have bacon and so I cut that up into small pieces and sautéed it with diced onions, garlic, green pepper and red pepper flakes. I love cooking with bacon because it gives whatever I’m cooking a nice smoked flavour. Once that was cooked I added shrimp, a bit of tomato sauce, a generous dollop of heavy cream and lastly Parmesan cheese and a bit of grated cheddar cheese.
By the time the sauce was cooked my noodles were ready. I tossed the noodles with a bit of butter and dried parsley, placed them on a plate and then poured the shrimp sauce over the noodles and served it with two mini garlic bread.
I am so glad I didn’t fry the shrimp with just butter and garlic. This was much much better!
Oh man that looks tasty!