myTaste.com
ll Cibo é L'essenza Della Vita....

"The rooms that you use on a daily basis are the rooms people will always want to sit in, because they have soul." --Bunny Williams

“VIVERE SENZA RIMPIANTI” LIVE WITHOUT REGRETS

"If you want to live forever and ever, drink wine and eat maccheroni." ~~~Sicilian Proverb

Monday, June 21, 2010

5 Minute Pasta- Pappardelle con Gamberi e Porri- a Meatless Monday Cheat


Hi All! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that Monday isn't being TOO awfully hard on you.

As I said last week, Casa Bramasole is in the midst of some potentially major changes (stay tuned....), so time is of the essence lately. I had promised to post some chocolate goodies that Allie and I whipped up for Mr B on his day, but, as sometimes happens, they weren't QUITE what we expected.


Something that gooey and chocolatey should make you swoon, right??

Not so much. They were "okay" but just "okay" is just not good enough to share with you all. 

This brownie recipe came from a local publication- these caramel brownies are a specialty of a fabulous bakery in Charlotte, but somehow, they lost something in the translation. Interestingly, another blogger told me these have been showing up all over the Net- I'd be interested to know if we were the only ones not impressed. We're going to tweak these a bit, then bring them back- the concept is just too good to give up on

Now THESE.....!


THESE were GOOD! 

Buttery, gooey, salted caramels (I used the pink Himalayan salt- isn't it pretty?!)

The recipe for these will be posted on our Facebook Fan page tonight, so be sure to come on over and "like" us here

Today for Meatless Monday I'm going to cheat just a bit. I happened to have some gorgeous shrimp that needed to be used up, and since Mary at One Perfect Bite says it's okay, then it's okay by me. If you've never been over to Mary's blog, you're missing something special- this is one of my very favorite daily reads

This is a recipe I've had literally for years- from WAY before I even knew what a blog was (okay, so that was just a few months ago...) and certainly way before I ever thought I'd be writing anything and the importance of crediting the source. So please forgive me for not remembering where this came from, but it's been at least 25 years (I can't believe I just admitted to that!).

Anyway, this can easily be done in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta and it's one of my very favorite quick pastas. I once made this for a friend who dropped in unexpectedly for lunch and this tiny, petite little person finished off the whole platter- a pound! (minus what I ate of course....)

Just a few simple ingredients.....


a little Brandy, a little cream......



(Pasta with Shrimp and Leeks)
Pappardelle con Gamberi e Porri

1 pound pappardelle or fettucine
about 3/4 pound fresh raw shrimp- peeled, deveined, and chopped into 3 or 4 pieces
3 leeks, washed and trimmed- halve lengthwise and cut crosswise in very thin slices
6-8 scallions, washed and trimmed- finely chopped
6 TBLSP unsalted butter
2 TBLSP chopped fresh tarragon
salt, to taste
zest of 1 1/2 lemons
1/3 cup Brandy
1/2 cup (maybe slightly more) heavy cream
ground white pepper, to taste

Put a large pot of well salted water on to boil. When boiling, add pasta, stir and cook till al dente. In the meantime:
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add leeks and scallions and saute about 5 minutes till softening. Add shrimp, tarragon, salt, and lemon zest. The licorice-y aroma of the tarragon will be divine. This brought Allie right out of her room on the second floor to see what was cooking! :) Toss and saute 2-3 minutes till shrimp starts to cook and turn pink.  Add Brandy and cook till almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add cream and pepper and remove from heat. Drain pasta and serve topped with sauce- if too dry, add a bit of cream
**NOTE- I have also made this with Vermouth



Have a wonderful day!

As Always,

Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie

16 comments:

  1. Oh, Pattie! YUM!

    Hope things are well with you and that all is going according to plan!

    XOXOXO,

    Sheila :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum yum! Sorry the brownies didn't live up to their reputation (I hate when that happens) but the "Pappardelle con Gamberi e Porri" looks very good! I'll be looking for the salted caramel recipe on facebook!

    ♥ Pat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi ladies, Sorry the brownies are not what your standards are but they look yummy and so does the candy. Hope the changes to blog are coming along and looking forward to reading about them.Thanks for another great post. ~Emelia~ PS. The Father's Day post very touching too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pattie,
    The caramel brownies look so good. I am looking forward to your tweaking the recipe and sharing it with us.
    Your caramels are making my mouth water, and I loved the pink salt. How pretty. I love salty sweet combinations.
    Pasta is one of my favorite dishes, just about any way it can be prepared. Sounds so good and seems pretty fast and easy to prepare.

    Thank you, again, for sharing your yummy recipes!

    Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  5. l'assiette de pâte me met vraiment en appétit
    ça doit être très savoureux
    bonne soirée

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry about the brownies but the meal looks amazing. Thanks for sharing this recipe. love your blog. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds absolutely fabulous! I love everything in this recipe, so it's going on my must try list!

    Happy Monday!

    :)
    ButterYum

    ReplyDelete
  8. Patti,
    Sounds delicious! I've got fresh shrimp down here at the bay(no oil!)and we'll try this later in the week.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Patti
    I love pappardelle!! unfortunately its not one of my wifes favorites so we never have it...sigh.
    your sauce sounds wonderful, but how can cream and brandy not be delicious, and then you add in the shrimp...yummmmmmm!! I especially like the addition of the lemon zest, what a great flavor to add the mix
    Wish I could have been there to taste it!
    All the best
    Dennis

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds so good...brandy and cream together! Those caramels look so good and I love the pink salt!
    Have a great week!
    Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Pattie (and Allie),
    Thank you so much for your kind words after my mom passed. I could feel of your love and concern...thank you.
    These tributes to the "two daddies" were precious. I loved reading them.
    I also scrolled down a bit to find that you will be featured in the the Chapel Hill magazine for your Summer salad. What a thrill. I hope you will share some of those photos when you can. Congratulations.
    Thanks again for your thoughtfulness,
    Mary Lou

    ReplyDelete
  12. Everything looks so good today! I especially like the looks of those caramels! I love salted caramel. It's one of my favourite flavours! xxoo

    ReplyDelete
  13. I drove into the States on the weekend for Mexican with frinds and stopped off at one of our local ice cream haunts. They no longer have my favourite which is salted caramel.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Every thing today looks wonderful. It's a shame the brownies were not to your liking, but that happens sometimes. The pasta sounds amazing and I've bookmarked the recipe to try when I have some time to do it justice. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Thanks for the link love. Blessings...Mary

    ReplyDelete
  15. This looks so very good!! I love simple dishes like this. This may be something good for me to make while I'm at the beach.

    Good luck with your changes at home. I hope that all is good.

    ReplyDelete

We LOVE comments and it's a great way to lead us to your home! Thanks for visiting!