Pasta with pesto and shrimp is a light and delicate summer dish. It’s easy to prepare and doesn’t require much time at the stove. The preparation is similar to Genovese pesto but results in a more elegant and refined dish.
If you like dishes with pesto, don’t forget to check out the recipe
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 2 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 12 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Fall
- Energy 441.36 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 29.06 (g) of which sugars 0.73 (g)
- Proteins 18.15 (g)
- Fat 28.83 (g) of which saturated 7.00 (g)of which unsaturated 4.97 (g)
- Fibers 2.03 (g)
- Sodium 1,348.31 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 70 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 4 servings
- 2 oz basil (In leaves)
- 2.8 oz Grana Padano cheese, grated
- 3.5 oz extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 1/4 glass dry white wine
- 3.5 oz shrimp
- 1 clove garlic (Peeled and without germ)
- to taste coarse salt
- 12.7 oz pasta (spaghetti, linguine, bagoli)
Tools
- 1 Mortar
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 Pot 3-4 liters
Procedure
The original recipe for Genovese pesto involves using a mortar, a slow process that requires patience, but today we will simplify it by using a blender.
Place the basil leaves, coarse salt, half of the oil, and 3-4 ice cubes in the blender glass to make the pesto brighter and greener.
Crush the garlic, remove the peel, and with the help of a knife, remove the internal germ. This step is important to make the Genovese pesto lighter and more digestible.
Blend at the lowest speed intermittently to avoid overheating the basil and losing the bright green color. Once a cream forms, add the remaining ingredients and blend at low speed while pouring oil slowly.
If you like a coarse and crunchy pesto, I suggest toasting the pine nuts in a pan before adding them to the blender, try it to believe it!
Put the water for the pasta to boil on the stove and in the meantime, let’s prepare the shrimp. Clean the shrimp by removing the head and shell, pull out the black vein by making an incision on the back of each shrimp.
In a pan, add a drizzle of oil and sauté the shrimp for a minute, deglaze with white wine, and finish cooking on the other side.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it and sauté it in the pan with the shrimp, just a couple of minutes so that it can absorb the shrimp’s cooking base.
Off the heat, add the pesto and gently mix the ingredients. The pesto is sensitive to heat, so you should avoid warming it in the pan or overcooking it.
Your pasta with pesto and shrimp is ready!
Plating Tips:
I suggest playing with long pasta to create a creamy and enveloping effect, place the shrimp to complete the dish.
Wine Pairing for Pasta with Pesto and Shrimp:
To enhance the flavor of the pasta with pesto and shrimp, I recommend a full-bodied white wine such as a Ligurian Vermentino. Ligurian Vermentino is an aromatic wine capable of enhancing this traditional recipe.
