I feel like the title of this post should be Why I Love Summer Part II: The Upscale Version. Because this was just as fast and pantry friendly as the last dish. It features summer’s best friends: zucchini and basil–and adds tomatoes, which only improves a dish.
Now it just so happens that shrimp and scallops are a (new to me) pantry item because I buy them individually frozen in 2 lbs bags at Costco. The seafood is of course what takes this dish up a notch from the frittata, but if you have to run out and buy them, in other words plan for this dish, it is still worth it–maybe just not as fun as knowing you whipped it up at the last minute.
On a different note, those of you who are longtime readers of this blog must be astonished at all the seafood. Discovering I liked scallops has radically changed my cooking, since John has always loved shrimp but I was never willing to make it since I dislike it. But now I feel like 2009 will be remembered as the year I learned to cook shrimp and scallops!
- 1 lb capellini, spaghettini or angel hair pasta, cooked to al dente in salted water and drained
- 7 large sea scallops
- about 15 medium sized shrimp
- 2 pints of cherry tomatoes, cleaned and sliced in half
- 3 baby zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 T olive oil and 2 T unsalted butter, divided into 1 of each
- ¾-1 cup white wine
- 1 t honey
- ¼ cup thinly sliced basil--purple or Italian
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add one tablespoon each of the oil and butter. Add the scallops and shrimp--potentially in 2 batches to avoid over crowding--and sear until done. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil and butter to the skillet. Add the garlic and cook to golden and fragrant. Add the zucchini with a pinch of salt and saute until crisp-tender. Add the white wine (3/4 cup) to the pan and boil to reduce. Add the honey with a pinch of salt. Add the noodles and seafood and toss. Add more wine if needed and cook it down as well. Turn the heat off and add the tomatoes and basil. Toss and serve with freshly ground pepper.
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I think I need to reintroduce shrimp and pasta into our weekly menu. We used to have it every week, but it's been a while now.
I need to grab a couple bags of shrimp and/or scallops to have in my freezer.. this looks really good. And no one around here has zucchini?! I mean yes, the farmers' market has it but no home gardens yet! Or at least not enough to share. hmph.
what a lovely seafood summer meal!
whoa…this is delicious and its not hard to prepare!
This is a beautiful and tasty looking dish!
I've been trying more fish and shrimp this year- need to try the scallops next!
I bet this was delicious with all those flavors and the seafood! It's also pretty too! Love the fresh basil too.
So this is what you were cooking up last night! Looks delish!
Looks really good! I love seafood pasta.