A quick and easy pasta recipe made with linguine, asparagus, pesto and shrimp. This has so much flavor thanks to the pesto and it's the perfect compliment to shrimp.
Servings: 5
Prep15 minutesminutes
Cook20 minutesminutes
Ready in: 35 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Pesto
2cups (55g)packed fresh basil leaves
1/2cup (14g)slightly packed parsley leaves(or more basil)
To a food processor add basil, parsley, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste (I use 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper).
Pulse until finely chopped, then with processor running slowly pour in olive oil and let run several seconds until it's well combined and smooth.
For the pasta:
Boil pasta in salted water according to directions on package, reserve 1/3 cup pasta water before draining.
To cook the shrimp:
While pasta is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shrimp, season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally until opaque throughout and outsides are pink, about 3 - 4 minutes.
Pour lemon juice over shrimp and toss. Add pasta and asparagus to pan with shrimp and toss while seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Let it cool for one minute (I just like to do this so it doesn't cook the pesto), and add the pesto and toss to coat, thin with reserved pasta water as desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
If you really don't like shrimp, or if you don't want to pay the higher price for it, feel free to replace the shrimp with chicken breasts diced into 1-inch cubes, then increase the cooking time by about 6 minutes (or until cooked through).
If you don't want to steam the asparagus, you could sauté it in a little olive oil before you cook the shrimp.
If asparagus isn't in season, feel free to throw in fresh spinach or another green of choice.