Project Jamie: spaghetti con gamberetti e rucola

I haven’t been diligent with my Steffi x Jamie x Miki project. It’s just too easy for me to get distracted and try other things. But I promise to try and make more dishes from those books so I can meet my self-imposed deadline.

It’s a warm early-March day. By mid-afternoon, Chris and I arrived from the vet with our tiny chihuahua puppy, Basti. We’ve been up late, woke up early and the only thing we devoured since last night were cups of French roast coffee.  Chris went straight to the garden and started pulling weeds out but I insisted on eating something substantial to appease my complaining tummy.

We were both ornery, hot and hungry. We both needed comfort food. We needed something Italian.

I chose this dish because it looked and sounded interesting. I also have an intense craving for seafood considering that we’ve been eating a lot of beef and pork lately. (I know, I know… I should eat more greens.) I tried to be as faithful to the recipe as much as I could but I did tweak things a bit based on the availability of ingredients and taste preferences. My revisions are listed after the recipe below.

Is it the best pasta dish I’ve ever had? No, but it’s definitely in the Top 10. We enjoyed it immensely and I hope you do, too.

Thanks, Jamie. 🙂

Tomato, Mushroom and Shrimp Pasta

If Rachael Ray has a You-Won’t-Be-Single-For-Long pasta, I took the next step and made sure the cook will be married by morning. 😀 J/K. This is something that I threw together while Dad and I just arrived and were both hungry. I just came from the gym and my legs were screaming bloody murder. If you like to eat as much as I do, a little maintenance is a must. So, while Dad was doing the dishes, I offered to cook pasta because I don’t think I can eat chicken again for the nth time this week.

The spinach pasta cooks so fast. And make sure it’s al dente, not soggy. I wanted to make it completely vegetarian but that might make Dad a little sad so I added a little shrimp to taste. It’s invented and hurried but it’s surprisingly yummy so I decided to share it.

There isn’t really much more to say so I’ll go straight to the recipe.