Garlic Shrimp Pasta with A Kick!

I didn’t particularly plan to post recipes on this blog but I am secretly a bit of a foodie and I love finding/developing really good food that’s easy to make. This is a recipe I developed when I was on a HUGE garlic and pasta kick. I’m always on a garlic kick honestly, but that month I was allll about the pasta too. 

So, Garlic Shrimp Pasta with A Kick! Fuck yes! Seriously, it’s bloody delicious, pretty inexpensive, and makes you seem like a master chef with a minimal amount of work. How could this get better? That’s right! It couldn’t. Oh wait! For those of you who have a gluten allergy/intolerance you can easily trade out the wheat pasta for a gluten free version such as Barilla (which tastes more like regular pasta than any other brand). Now it can’t get better. Mostly because I’m awesome. Moving forward… You will need:

•3/4 box of any pasta. I recommend a spaghetti (thin, thick, rigati, doesn’t matter), farfalle, or rotini. Penne and ziti are a little too much for the aglio e oilo sauce. ~Aglia e olio is just a fancy pants way of saying garlic, olive oil, and parsley. 

•3T of salted butter (unsalted is okay but you’ll have to compensate with more salt). 

•3T of olive oil (any kind is okay, I use extra virgin). 

•5-6 cloves of fresh garlic

•Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (you really should use this kind of Parmesan for its subtle nutty flavor. Shitty shaker Parmesan will not taste the same and Pecorino Romano is too pungent in my humble opinion). 

•1tsp. of salt

•1/4tsp. of black pepper (I use normal table pepper but freshly cracked would be fantastic). 

•1/16tsp. of ground (cayenne) red pepper. I highly recommend ground over flakes as you don’t end up chewing on chunks. This is optional and adds just the smallest kick that really rounds out the flavor. You can taste the flavor without needing to guzzle water like a triathlon participant. 

•1/4tsp. of garlic powder (We’re double garlicking motha fuckas!!!)

•1/4tsp. of dried parsley. 

•16-20 medium shrimp (Mine were a bit small so I used a few more)

•A dash of fucking awesome 

Alright first things first put a large pot of salted water on to boil…

Then you need to peel, crush, and mince your garlic into fine little bits. I can’t speak for all my fellow garlic lovers but I am not a fan of biting into a giant chunk of garlic. So, we mince. Crushing the garlic beforehand helps the mincing process along…

Then we put our 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil into a nonstick pan and turn it to medium heat.

You only want to heat it until the butter is melted and bubbling a little bit. Then we add our garlic and all the seasonings except the parsley…

Stir all of those delicious spices in, put the paste in the water, and add your shrimpies :)🍤

You want them in one even layer. You’re only going to flip them once. You want to cook them until you can see the pink coming up around the sides from underneath like the photo below. When you see this, flip those little fuckers over!

Finish cooking the shrimp until they’re pink on all sides with no grey or translucent parts. But be careful not to overcook them or you’ll have rubbery shrimp 🤐 Grate some of that Parmigiano Reggiano on top and stir it in…
Look at that delicious shit all cooked down in its buttery, garlicky, sexpotness!! (You can never have too many photos of shrimp. It’s just a life fact.)

At this point your pasta should be done. If it’s not, turn the shrimp to the lowest heat setting to prevent overcooking. Once your pasta is done (al dente of course) drain it and add your shrimp with all of its saucey goodness. Should look a little something like this…

Mix it up, grate more of that amazing cheese into it (just enough to coat the top like so)…

Now… TASTE TEST! Different pastas seem to suck up the salt differently. So taste it and see if you need to add a little more salt. If you don’t want to add too much, use the cheese. It has a natural saltiness. Then add the parsley, serve it up, and garnish with more cheese (obviously). 

Trust me, you won’t regret this. When I first came up with it I ate it 4-5 times a week for a few weeks. Played with it, fine tuned, etc. Now it is incredible and easy enough for you to make at home for your wife, husband, friends, or just yourself. It takes about 20 minutes. Enjoy!!

by Ashley Hebner

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