Baked Lemon Pasta with Shrimp

If you haven't noticed I love the Pioneer Woman! Ree is so damn funny and is so flipping talented it makes me want to vomit.

Here is the Pioneer Woman's site.

Now her version is just pasta, but you know us down in the south we like something to go with it. A co-worker (Vernola)...(she's cajun french by the way)'s cousin still lives down the bayou and he shrimps. So I bought some shrimp from her when she went down and boy they were beautiful. I got 10 lbs and we only have one more bag left...thankfully she's planning a trip down in a few weeks and we'll get more then.

Any who both Mr. B and I loved this dish. I was quite worried Mr. B wouldn't but he surprises me sometimes.

Ingredients

1 lb Thin Spaghetti
6tbl of Butter (Which is 1/2 stick plus 2 tbl)
4 tbl EVOO
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
Juice of 1 Lemon
Zest of 1 Lemon
2 C Sour Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Parsley, Chopped


The deed.....

Pre-Heat your oven to 375.
Cook Spaghetti until Al Dente.

In a skillet melt 4 tbl of butter and 2 tbl of EVOO on low heat.
When butter is melted add the minced garlic....take a second to thank the Good Lord that they came up with cooking garlic in butter and EVOO because it honestly is one of my most favorite smells in the entire world.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan.
Turn off the heat....remember this one!!!

Add Sour Cream and stir together.
Add Lemon Zest and Salt.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti (which should be in some kind of baking dish)
Mix around a bit.

Bake covered for 15 minutes.
Then remove foil and bake another 7-10 minutes.

At this time add 2 tbl of butter and 2 tbl of EVOO to a pan.
When melted throw in your shrimp.
Season with S&P and Slap Ya Mama (any cajun seasoning).
Cook over medium heat.
Shrimp will turn a beautiful shade of pink when done...only will take about 5 minutes.

Take out pasta bake. Squeeze with a little more lemon.
Add Parmesan cheese and Parsley.
Top with Shrimp.

Voila!

Pasta Carbonara

In light of our recent trip to Europe I figured Mr. B was probably convulsing since he hasn't had Pasta Carbonara in oh say 10 days. Between him and my aunt and I think they consumed about 15 servings of this stuff!


I had made it once before and it was good but not as good as this one. I found this recipe in my Food & Wine Magazine for this month.

Ingredients

6oz pasta (I used Spaghetti and I'm pretty sure I used more then 6oz ha ha)
1 tbl EVOO (which I didn't use)
4 oz Pancetta cut into 1/4 inch thick cubes (I didn't have time to get any so I used bacon)
1 Shallot chopped
1 Garlic Clove chopped (next time I'll use 2 because I luuurve garlic)
1 C Heavy Cream
2 Tbl Parmigiano-Reggiano (I didn't have the good stuff but it still was yummy..oh and I used more then 2 tbl)
4 Lg Egg Yolks
Salt
2 tbl Parsley (which I totally forgot to use even though I bought it)
Ground Pepper (which I'm a loser and my grinder is out..however normal pepper did just fine)

Boil water until al dente, reserve 3 Tbl pasta water (which I forgot to do..no biggie)

In a large pan use the EVOO (which I didn't because I was using bacon it had enough fat). Cook Pancetta until most of the fat has been rendered....about 7 minutes.

Since I used bacon I cooked my bacon in a different pan...then just poured about 1 tbl of the bacon grease into my pan to cook my shallots and garlic.

Add the Shallot and Garlic for about a minute.

Add the cream and let simmer about two minutes.

Add hot pasta and stir to coat, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat and put in big dish. Pour in remaining 3 tbl pasta water (if you forget no biggie), cheese and egg yolks.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add some cheese on top and parsley.

No picture because we ate this so fast we forgot. Next time I will make sure that the pasta has enough time to heat up with the cream mixture...but it was still warm enough. And I think freshly ground pepper will make a huge difference but like I said I was out.

None the less pairing this with my Chateau St Michelle was good enough for me!