Submitted recipe and photo courtesy of Donatello’s Italian Restaurant in Carmel
One a long cold day, this is the perfect comfort food, available at Donatello’s Italian Restaurant. This dish is similar to an Alfredo cream sauce but not as heavy because the garlic helps cut the sauce and you’ll use less cream. You could substitute grilled chicken for shrimp if you like.
Notes: You can always add more or less garlic according to your preference. That’s the beauty of cooking for yourself.
Serves: 1 to 2 people
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons of finely chopped garlic
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
3 pats of butter
1 cup of cooked shrimp cut into thirds
1 cup of cooked angel hair pasta
Directions:
Put on a medium pot of water to boil.
Grab a medium-sized skillet and heat it to medium heat. Add butter and let it melt but not burn or brown. The key is don’t turn the heat up too high.
Add garlic — you can add more or less based on preference — but make sure it doesn’t brown or burn. Burned garlic will ruin the dish and you’ll need to start over. Use a low heat and be sure to stir the garlic so it doesn’t stick. The finer you chop the garlic the more it’s likely to burn, but finely chopped garlic also helps spread the flavor throughout the dish, so just keep an eye on that.
Once the garlic and butter are cooked, add the shrimp. Often people over-cook shrimp and it becomes rubbery. You just want it to turn pink. If you are worried about over-cooking the shrimp, you can cook it separately in a pot of boiled water. You can reheat cold shrimp with a touch of water in a bowl covered with plastic wrap in the microwave but be careful reheating. You don’t want the shrimp to turn rubbery.
Next you’ll add the heavy whipping cream to the skillet. You want the cream to reduce and become thick without scalding the dairy product. Remember, medium heat and patience is the key. Stir with a wire whisk to help the sauce thicken. Add Parmesan cheese and stir while adding. (Note: if you use cheap Parmesan, it could make your dish taste too salty.)
While making the sauce, you’ll be cooking the pasta in boiling water. Basically, follow whatever time it says on the package if you bought pre-made pasta, but generally it should be 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the fresh cooked pasta to the sauce while it’s still hot and it will absorb some of the sauce before you scoop it into a bowl.
