I’ve been seeing Creamy Tuscan Shrimp videos over and over again from different apps and Youtube, because I admit I let Youtube play endless Tasty videos when I’m alone. However, as a rice eating country, the creaminess of the recipe doesn’t make me reach for a bowl of rice. So lucky that I finally Googled creamy+tuscan+shrimp+pasta and ended up with a Delish.com recipe!
My husband lets me play with food on Sundays we call ‘experiment day’ and I take this time to shop for whatever food item I need for a dish I’d like to try, most of the time requiring something out of the ordinary Filipino pantry items.
So I actually quite followed the recipe almost to a T, but below was my exact recipe for two people. The outcome was a hit, and he thinks I should prepare this for Noche Buena (Christmas Eve dinner) this year, if only my younger brother wasn’t allergic to shrimps! It’s such a fun and easy recipe to make. A noticed I took just under half an hour making this, probably because I was mincing garlic and grating parmesan while waiting for my pasta water to boil. #multitasking
Creamy Tuscan Shrimp Penne
Easy creamy tomato shrimp pasta, pair with light white wine.
Recipe Notes: The original recipe called for fresh parsley, but I didn’t find some in the market so I skipped it. Also, I could imagine trying this with sundried tomatoes in place of the canned diced tomatoes, too!
Ingredients
- 200 grams penne (I used penne ziti)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- pinch or two of dried chili flakes
- 10 pieces medium shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Undercook pasta by a minute in salted water. Reserve 1/3 cup (or more, according to preference) pasta water. Drain and set pasta aside.
- Use the same pot, or use a separate skillet: Melt butter on low fire, then cook garlic until aromatic.
- Add chili flakes and shrimps, season with salt and pepper. Cook until all sides are pink. Set shrimps aside.
- In the same pan/pot where the butter, garlic and shrimp juices are, add spinach and cook until slightly wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add diced tomatoes, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, and 1/3 cup pasta water. Simmer for about 5 minutes; stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
- Add shrimps, simmer for about a minute and then mix penne in. (Optional: Add more pasta water if you want more sauce or to make the sauce thinner. Season with salt and pepper at this point, according to taste.)
- Serve with a garnish of more parmesan cheese, and chili flakes if you want more heat in it.
