Seafood Pesto Pasta

One of my favorite parts of summer is having a garden. I love just walking outside to pick what I need for dinner.  As we are trying to eat more organic, nothing is better than a home grown garden. I love the smell our garden produces especially as I am down in it picking our biggest tomato or picking fresh basil. One of my favorite things too is the smell basil leaves on your fingers. It is an aroma that will stay with you and of course I always want to make pesto when I smell it.

I feel that pesto is one of those staple summer foods. I ♥ pesto! I will put it on anything I can. I don't remember growing up with pesto, so I am not sure where my love for it began.  My first memory of pesto was actually at my Uncle Jeff's house when I was in middle school. We were over there for some family gathering and he had just made it. I remember watching him use the fresh basil from his garden and adding all of the ingredients.  I just remember how wonderful it smelled. Anything that smells good has to taste good too...right! I am sure my parent's made it when I was younger, but it is curious how our brains will tie something to a specific memory.

It is starting to get hot here in Arizona and pesto pasta just seemed like a perfect meal to make. I have a fantastic recipe from non other than my amazing MIL (mother-in-law). Pesto calls for Parmesan cheese, and since I cannot eat dairy I substituted it for my dairy free cheese. I use daiya cheese, and it is definitely the best I have found. I have found it at Sprouts and Whole Foods! It was fantastic! Bill had no idea until I told him ☺ which always is my test when I am cooking..."if Bill can't tell than it must be okay!"

I had a seafood medley (shrimp, scallops + calamari)  from Trader Joe's in my freezer ($5.99) and gluten free pasta in the cupboard. For our sides we had caprese salad (I don't have cheese on my salad) + zucchini all from our garden. This entire meal was gluten and dairy free!  We had one of my favorite Oregon wines too...Evolution from Sokol Blosser. Our entire meal (minus the wine) was less than $10 and we got 3 meals out of it! The wine doubled our meal price, but as my FIL (Father-in-Law) says "Life is too short to drink bad wine!"

Here is what you need!

mmm...i love pesto!

Pesto
1 cup tightly packed fresh basil (stems removed), washed and dried on paper towels
1/2 cup olive oil
3 TBSP freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used my dairy free cheese)
2 TBSP pine nuts
3 small gloves of garlic
1/2 TSP salt or to taste
1/4 TSP ground white pepper


In the bowl of food processor, place in all ingredients. Pulse until well blended and smooth. 

Makes about 1 cup

Seafood Pasta

Cook pasta according to package.

Add olive oil to a saucepan. When warm, add seafood and cook 3-5 minutes or until opaque color. While cooking add salt + lemon pepper to taste.


Add pesto to pasta. DO NOT ADD ALL OF THE PESTO. Keep adding pesto in small doses and mix until all pasta is covered. Add seafood and mix. Enjoy!

xoxo

Meggan

Seafood Pasta

I found the recipe in my  at blanchard's table  cookbook, and it was wonderful. The recipe calls for shrimp but I adapted it. I love seafood, but living in Arizona it is always very expensive! At Trader Joe's I found a frozen seafood medley (shrimp, scallops + calamari $5.99), which actually worked well. Obviously fresh seafood would be better, but you learn to adapt quickly when you are on a budget :)

Also, since I am watching my gluten intake, we used Gluten Free pasta. If you have never used GF pasta, it is worth trying. It cooks a little differently than normal pasta, which caused our sauce to be a little creamer than expected, but we love it. Bill even ate it (and had seconds) which as you know passes the "make it again test!" Since I used GF pasta ($2) the meal was a little more expensive than it would be if you used normal pasta. The entire meal was about $8.50, but we got 3 meals out of it! We were lucky enough to use lemons from our tree and basil from our garden! One of the MANY pluses to having a garden!!

Penne with Shrimp, Garlic, Lemon + Basil

1 pound penne (or whatever pasta you have lying around!)
3 TBLS olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 TSP dried red pepper flakes
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half lengthwise (or Trader Joe's Seafood Medley)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
1 TSP salt
1/4 TSP freshly ground black pepper
             Freshly grated Parmesan cheese 


Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil in high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender. Drain well and return to the pot.


While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, pepper flakes, and shrimp, and cook stirring, just until the shrimp turns pink (2-3 minutes).


Once the pasta is back in the pasta pot, add the shrimp, lemon juice and basil, and toss well. Add the salt and pepper, adjusting to taste and add more lemon juice if desired. Serve immediately with plenty of Parmesan cheese! Enjoy!

xoxo

Meggan