I am always down for trying a new shrimp and pasta combination. I recently came across an interesting recipe for shrimp with parmesan cream sauce in The Illustrated Kitchen Bible. While this dish is actually meant to be an appetizer, it also makes a super tasty topping for pasta, transforming it into a delicious dinner! You can find the full recipe online here.
The shrimp are dressed up with bacon, scallions, and garlic, with heavy cream, lemon, juice, and parmesan creating a tasty sauce. The recipe suggested using baby spinach leaves as a garnish. I took this one step further and added a generous handful or two of baby spinach into the hot pan for the last minute I was cooking up the shrimp and sauce, so that they wilted nicely and were coated in creamy, bacony goodness. I topped some whole grain pasta with the shrimp and sauce, and sprinkled with some additional parmesan.
The parmesan flavor of the sauce is pretty subtle, but the rich flavor of the bacon help give the sauce a deep, smoky accent. I can’t recall previously cooking bacon and shrimp together, but boy is it delicious! Because of some of the heavier elements of this dish (ahem…bacon, cream), this recipe will be reserved for repetition once in awhile. I think I might experiment to lighten up the dish to make it a little less guilt free. But hey, it’s okay to indulge every once in awhile. Am I right? :)
