Shrimp and Linguini Recipe

Rather than using heavy cream for linguini Alfredo, my mom used to make it with milk. She didn’t like the sauce being too thick. Thus, I grew up with this preference for a thinner sauce as well. Alternatively, now that I’m an adult, generally I use half-n-half when cooking white sauces. To me, it’s the best of both worlds. Although, the following shrimp and linguini recipe can’t technically be called linguini Alfredo, since I’ve made entirely too many adjustments to it.

While my mom adds scallops and shrimp to her recipe, I only add shrimp. Besides shrimp, seasonings, and cream, for a long time I never tried adding anything else to my recipe. But, eventually, I started to change things up, like tossing in fresh tomatoes. Then I tried spinach. However, kale would work just as well. With the recipe below, I added canned mushrooms and some cooking wine. And my family loved it. Therefore, after many such alterations, this is an entirely new recipe for us.

Additionally, most of the time, I cut up the shrimp. However, you don’t have to. Mixing 3 kids and seafood always prompted them to compete for the most amount of shrimp between them. And count how many each had, to be sure they received a fair amount. Consequently, I had to improvise. Even though my oldest no longer lives at home, for some reason, I kept the habit of cutting up the shrimp. Please enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients for shrimp and linguini recipe

• 1 lb uncooked red Argentine shrimp
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
• 1 1/4 c half n half
• 1/3 c each white cooking wine and water
• 4 fresh Roma tomatoes, cut up and deseeded
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 sprigs each fresh oregano and basil (I used purple basil), chopped
• 1 (4oz) can sliced mushrooms
• 6 oz spinach, fresh or frozen (I used frozen, but heated according to package instructions)
• and 1 lb linguini

Shrimp and linguini recipe instructions

• First, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and shrimp, and cook until shrimp is cooked through. With Argentine shrimp, it starts out more translucent, like most shrimp, and as it cooks, it will get opaque.
• Next, add the following 2 ingredients at the same time, but in 2 separate measuring cups; stir.
• Then add the next 6 ingredients, stirring occasionally. Adjust temperature to medium low.
• Cook linguini according to package instructions.
• So the shrimp doesn’t over-cook, remove sauce from heat. Then when linguini is finished cooking, drain noodles. Put the noodles back in the pot you cooked them in and pour sauce over pasta. Mix well.
• Finally, serve and eat immediately.

Do you prefer a thicker sauce to a thin one with linguini? And do you make your own sauce? Moreover, do you get creative with your sauces?

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