IHCC's 'Under Thirty Minutes' ... Linguine and Shrimp

With greens and flavours like these, this is bound to be a good plate of pasta! Add some shrimp and olive oil to make a zesty sauce and boil the pasta. Dinner's ready in less than thirty minutes!

What should have been an hour long shopping trip turned into a full afternoon at the shops today. Of course, I waited until the last minute to get my Yankee Swap gift for the annual family Christmas get-together. I ended up running all over Keene, New Hampshire looking for the perfect brandy snifters  to go with my "Wintertime Couch Potato's Care Package". Finally found stemless snifters at Pier One Imports ... so between the books, bon-bons, Cointreau, snifters, and a cozy lap blanket ... someone is going to make out like a bandit tomorrow! Hell, if I pick #1 in the swap, I may just swap it out and bring it back home!

Anyway, coming home to a cold, dark kitchen meant a quick dinner and that meant a fast recipe from Donna Hay's website ... Frozen shrimp - check. Fettucine - nope, but I have linguine. Basil and cilantro - check. Garlic - check. Lemon - check. Red chili pepper - nope, but I have a green jalapeno. Olive oil - check. Parmesan - check.

I Heart Cooking Club's challenge this week was to find a Donna Hay recipe that could be made and plated in thirty minutes or less. I think I hit on a good one. I am a total fan of pasta and all these flavours packed a punch with a generous number of shrimp! Steamed broccoli on the side and dinner was complete!

Now, if only I could find a gluten free pasta worth the time to boil it ... ideas, anyone?

In the meantime, here's the recipe ... so easy! Go for it the next time you've got a yen for a fast pasta dinner. You can also check out these other ''Fast and Fabulous' meals made by my cohorts in the I Heart Cooking Club. Click on over and see what's on their menus !

Prawn, Chili, and Coriander Pasta

a Donna Hay recipe

Serves 2

200 g. linguine or fettucine noodles

¼ c. olive oil

1 tbsp. chopped coriander roots (cilantro roots)

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 long red chili, thinly sliced (keep the seeds and veins in for hot spiciness … or not)

10 to 20 medium cooked prawns (shrimp), peeled, but with tails intact

1 tbsp. lemon juice plus zest of half a lemon

½ c. coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly chopped

½ c. basil leaves, roughly chopped

A generous lump of butter for the cooked pasta

Grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Kosher salt and grated black pepper, to taste

Making the Dish:

1. Heat a big pot of salted water and cook the pasta to al dente stage.
2. Place a large pasta serving bowl in the oven and warm it at 170° F.
3. While the water comes to the boil, thaw the shrimp, if frozen by placing the count you want in a colander and running cool water over them to take out the ice. Drain them on paper towels.
4. Prep the herbs, slice the chili pepper, chop the garlic, and zest and juice the lemon.
5. When you begin to cook the pasta, begin cooking the pasta sauce and shrimp.
6. Heat a large deep fry pan over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and swirl around the pan.
7. Add the garlic, coriander root, and the jalapeno pepper and stir fry for one minute. Add the green herbs and shrimp and cook for 1 minute to heat the shrimp through, longer if the shrimp are still a bit too cold.
8. Stir in the lemon juice, some Kosher salt and black pepper and swirl everything together.
9. Turn the heat off under the pan and set aside until the pasta is perfectly cooked.
10. When the pasta is done, drain it and while it is steaming, toss it into a heated pasta bowl, add a lump of butter and the lemon zest and toss the pasta to coat it well.
11. Turn the heat on briefly under the pan of shrimp and when it’s heated through, toss the sauce over the pasta and serve with grated cheese and Kosher salt and black pepper for sprinkling.