Cheery Tomato Pasta with shrimp has a summer vibe in it. Fresh cherry tomato, garlic, olive oil, lots of fresh basil, and shrimp, this tomato pasta is light and refreshing.
This cherry tomato pasta with shrimps is light with the freshness of cherry tomatoes and basil. Sweet and slightly tart cherry tomato makes a delicious sauce by itself without adding any cream or cheese.
This pasta recipe takes me back to Venice. I can still remember the freshness of the pasta. No fancy stuff, you could taste the fresh tomatoes, shrimp, and fresh hand rolled pasta. I wanted to recreate the dish from a long time.
Ingredients
You do not always need cream or cheese to make a good pasta dish. A handful of fresh seasonal ingredients can be turned into a delicious pasta sauce.
- Olive Oil
- Cherry tomato
- Basil
- Garlic
- Oregano
- Chili Flakes
- Shrimp- I love how well shrimp and tomato work together. But for a vegetarian version, you can skip shrimp. It will still be delicious without shrimp.
Step by Step Recipe
Starts with sautéing the shrimps. Always make sure you drain all the water from shrimp before adding to the pan for even brown. Sauté seasoned shrimp until it turns pink.
Remove the shrimp and to the remaining oil add cherry tomatoes. Toss it on high heat to get nice blisters on the tomatoes, this will add flavor. With the back of a spoon gently presses few tomatoes.
Add garlic and rest of the seasoning.
Next is to make the sauce for the pasta. The cup of pasta water reserved while draining is precious here. With all the starch from the pasta, the pasta cooking water when added , helps to thicken the sauce.
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Cheery Tomato Pasta with Shrimp
Ingredients
- 300 grams Shrimp cleaned
- 250 gram Spaghetti
- 400 grams Cherry Tomatoes
- 3 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2-3 cloves Garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon Red Chilli Flakes (adjust as per taste)
- 1 teaspoon dried Oregano
- ⅓ chopped Italian Basil
- salt and pepper to taste.
Instructions
- Cook pasta as per package instruction. Drain and toss in a dash of olive oil. Keep aside. While draining reserve 1.5 cups of pasta cooking water.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy cast-iron skillet. Add drained shrimp. Season it with salt and pepper.
- Cook shrimp undisturbed for 2 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and keep aside.
- To the same pan heat the remaining oil. Add cherry tomatoes. Toss in medium-high heat.
- Once the tomatoes are half cooked and small blisters appear on them, smash few tomatoes with the back of a spatula.
- Add minced garlic, oregano, chilli flakes. Saute for a minute to get rid of the raw smell of garlic.
- Add 1 cup of reserved pasta cooking water. Scrap the bottom of the pan. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, until it has a slightly thick sauce-like consistency.
- Check the seasoning and add more salt if required. (ref note 1).
- Add cooked shrimp, cooked pasta, and chopped basil.
- Toss everything well. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, for the sauce to thicken and coat the pasta well.
- If it looks dry, then add the remaining ½ cup of pasta water.
- Serve with more basil leaves on top.
Notes
- Seasonal ripe cherry tomatoes are slightly sweet. But if the sauce tastes tart, add a pinch of sugar to balance the tartness.
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