SHRIMPED PASTA

Coming up an idea of making an original dish, I immediately chose pasta since it is easy to blend in any ingredients.  But I never thought that I will be narrowed down to think of dish other than the popular spaghetti and carbonara and the unusual pasta with pineapple.  Well my friend has already done pasta cooked in pancit style, and this slimed my options.

At first, I immediately thought of Adobong Pasta, as my way of paying tribute to the all-time favorite viand of any Filipino.  But as I go on thinking, I came across to try pasta with the taste of shrimp.  I can figure it out in my mind some pictures of pasta with shrimp that I’ve seen but I assumed them as side taste or gourmet only.  I want to make a taste that will be entirely taste of shrimp for pasta.  This is how this dish goes which I called Shrimped Pasta.

You will need the following.

• ½ kilo of pasta
• ½ kilo of shrimp (prawn)
• 5 stalks of parsley
• 2 gloves of garlic
• 2 small onions.
• 200 grams whole mushroom

The very first thing I did is the preparation of shrimp extract that will serve as broth.  I removed its head and the shell (skin) of the lower parts then put them in pestle to crush and extract its juice until I have a 3-cup of it.  You may extract the shrimp two times in a half cup of water each.  Then just add water to make it 3 cups.

In a pan, I sauté the minced garlic and onion sliced thinly followed by the headless shrimp.  Approximately three to four minutes until it turned into color orange.  Then I added the mushrooms sliced thinly and pour the shrimp broth and bring it to boil until it cooked, approximately five minutes.  I put some flour to thicken the broth, season it well with salt and pepper and then set aside it.  This served as the sauce.

In a separate, I boiled the pasta according to the instruction on its package.  Rinsed it and sprinkled the chopped parsley finely.  Then in a platter, I put some of the sauce on, and then put a handful of the cooked pasta.  Then on top of it I pour more sauce, and finally sprinkled it with roasted garlic on top.

This makes good for 10 people.  And as usual, it is preferably better to serve and share while hot.  For good initial impression, I chose the long and flat shape of pasta.

And lastly, just eat right.

Shrimped Pasta

by Alex V Villamayor