Recipe of the week: Creamy pasta and honey-mustard-garlic grilled shrimp

You know when you've had a long day at work and don't want to spend more than 30 minutes cooking stuff in the kitchen?

Yeah. That was me last night. I originally wanted to make
some epic comfort food like lasagna or a good ol' Quebecor "tourtière" but I had a few problems:

-I had no more mozzarella cheese, so no lasagna. Booooh!

-My ass was HUNGRY so forget the tourtière, I probably would've fainted as this dish takes well over 3 hours to make from scratch. 

The Instagram pic!

Sooooo! I looked in the freezer and saw some shrimp. Nice. Okay. Shrimp with what? Pasta? Hum okay. Why not? I didn't have a recipe so I thought "I might as well freestyle something". I looked in the fridge: Parmesan, spinach, milk, dijon mustard (did I tell you guys I brought like 10 jars of dijon mustard from France the last time I went? They were like 0,50$ there! Awesome!) and white wine (of course). In the pantry: EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil), honey, a bunch of spices....my Magic Bullet mixer. I had enough stuff to freestyle something, right?

I wanted creamy, garlicky pasta but since I'm lactose intolerant, I'm not really used to making creamy stuff so I knew I had to try something new and hey, if it didn't work out, too bad for me and it would be a lesson for next time. I mean, a "béchamel" sauce is easy to make and looks creamy. Surprisingly, my freestyle turned out to taste AMAZING. I don't know if it was the wine, the parmesan or the garlic, but something made this dish epic. Or perhaps it was the love I put in it :) 

The whole meal took about 45 minutes to cook and plate. Since I know how to do everything now, I'm pretty sure I could do it in 30 minutes next time. The shrimp is super easy to make and cooking pasta is a joke. The only thing that took a bit more time was the creamy sauce, but when I say "more time" I mean about 20 minutes, which is really not bad. You guys went HAM on the Instagram picture and I'm really happy to share this recipe with you! Let me know if you try it at home! It's very easy.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO DO (For 4 people)

For the shrimp

You will need

-20-30 medium sized shrimp (or shraaaamp), veins removed and without the tail (You can buy them  like that already. Saves time)

-1/4 cup of honey

-2 tbsp of Dijon mustard

-1 tbsp of EVOO

-1 tsp of garlic powder

-1/2 tsp of chili powder

-1/2 tsp of onion powder

-Salt, pepper, Adobo (to your taste)

SO!

-Preheat the oven on low broil.

-Mix everything together in a bowl. Cover & refrigerate while you do everything else.

For the pasta + sauce & Spinach "pesto"

You will need

-1 pack of spaghetti 

-1/2 pack of spinach (about 4-5 cups)

-1/2 cup of olive oil + more, depending on the consistency you are looking for

-1 large onion, chopped in small small squares.

-1/2 cup of dry white wine

-2 tbsp of butter

-3 tbsp of flour

-1 cup of milk

-1/3 cup of grated Parmesan

-2 tbsp of chopped parsley

-Spices of your taste (I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, adobo

SO!

-On medium heat, add a bit of olive oil to your skillet and cook your onions until they are translucent & slightly caramelized. It should take about 10-12 minutes.

While the onions are cooking 

-Using your Magic Bullet (or blender), mix the spinach with the olive oil & spice to your taste. Reserve. Also, boil some water and cook your spaghetti according to the package instructions. 

-Once the onions are cooked, LOWER YOUR HEAT (between minimum and medium), melt the butter, add the flour & mix well. Then add the milk + Parmesan & mix well until the sauce becomes creamy. Add the spinach mix, wine, parsley and spices.

**If you want the sauce to be more creamy ** 

In a little cup, mix 1-2 tsp of flour (or 1 tsb of corn starch) to 1/2 cup of milk & then add it to the sauce. DO NOT add the flour directly to the sauce or it will form lumps. You don't want that. You can also add Parmesan to your taste or even a bit of cream cheese. 

-Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water, put the pasta back in the pot and add the creamy sauce over it. Mix well, add some more spices (if you want) and let everything simmer on LOW heat.

While the pasta is simmering

Add the marinated shrimp on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven on broil for about 10 minutes. They should look nicely glazed and slightly crispy. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes.

Put everything together!

In a nice plate, add the shrimp on top of the creamy pasta. I also added some arugula and a dash of olive oil on top. Very yummy with a nice glass of white wine from Alsace and some bread dipped in olive oil + glazed  & aged Balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy! 

Oh and here's a little pic I liked a lot recently. It pretty much sums up my life & love for wine. LOL!

xoxo

Sass