Back last summer, my mom found this super easy recipe for spicing up plain ‘ol spaghetti. No one remembers where it came from or what it’s really called, but we’ve named it “Spaghetti Shrimp”.
Now here in Charleston, we locals are committed to buying and eating fresh local seafood, but it’s out of shrimp season right now. BUT, we are never without some local frozen shrimp in the freezer. You’ve heard me say don’t worry about thawing your meat…just throw it in raw. Um, that won’t work for shrimp because they cook way too quickly. Be sure to allow for a full thaw.
Preparation:
- Thaw and peel 1 lb shrimp
- Dice 1 large onion (your choice) and as many mushrooms (whatever variety you like) as you like
Tip: I take a LARGE cutting board into the living room with my bowls and pots and veggies and knives and do this prep work on the ottoman while watching a little tv.
Cooking:
Okay, to keep the number of dirty pots and pans down to just 1, here’s what you do:
- cook 4 servings of your favorite pasta, not the whole box; this can be any shape, color, or gluten level! Look at the nutrition label; it will tell you how much is a serving given the nutritional content of your preferred pasta. Just cook the right number of servings, and you don’t have to worry about overeating the carbs!!
- in the same pot as you cooked the pasta (which is now hanging out in the colander), saute your onions and mushrooms in just a teeny tiny bit of olive oil. Keep in mind that the mushrooms will “spill” liquid as they cook and you’ll want to wait til you’ve cooked out that liquid before dumping in a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (we use homemade marinara that we put up during tomato season). Spice it up with a little more garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes…to your family’s taste tolerance.
- stir in a little more than 1 lb raw shrimp, which will cook in the simmering sauce and be flavored by your spices.
- stir in your cooked pasta
- serve with a simple side salad and bread.
Yep, it’s as simple as that and so delicious. And you can substitute any other meat…chicken, steak, pork…just be sure to cook it first.
Weight Watchers PointsPlus:
- 1 lb cooked shrimp = 8 points
- 20 oz Ragu Old World Style Traditional Sauce = 12 points (to give you an idea if you use jarred spaghetti sauce)
- 2 medium sweet onions = 0 points
- 1 container baby portabella mushrooms = 0 points
- 1 teaspoons olive oil = 2 points
- 4 servings Barilla Plus Multigrain Angel Hair pasta = 20
4 servings (1.5 cups) of Spaghetti Shrimp at 11 points each.
Note: if you make your own marinara or make sure that your jarred spaghetti sauce is fat free, that item drops to 0 points and drops the serving points to 7.5 points each. You can also find lower point pasta in both wheat and gluten free varieties. I’d have used homemade, but I’m not great at making yet.
Singing about Cooking 
CeCe- Do you have a great, yet easy recipe for homemade marinara? I would love to hear about it! Thanks for your inspiration!
Cindy, I think mine is both great and easy; it is a very basic marinara rather than a regional take. When I prepare it later for Italian, I always saute garlic, onions, and anchovy paste to mellow the sweetness, which is a very Roman version. It’s also a great base for soup, red/spanish rice, jambalaya, anything with a tomato base.
Cut fresh tomatoes (your choice what kind, but Roma are my favorite for marinara) in half; place on cookie sheet cut side up. Spoon an herb mixture over each tomato: olive oil, fresh garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper. I do like to make this the night before.
Roast in the oven at 200 for about an hour or until they are all shriveled up.
Cool completely, then peel off the skins and crush (with your hands) into a large cooking pot on low heat. If you like chunks, you’re probably done. If you like it smooth, use a hand blender (wand) in the pot or do in batches in the blender or food processor.
When our local tomatoes are back in, I plan to do a post just about this…especially since I am now out of homemade marinara. I will get about 60 lbs of tomatoes, which will make roughly 3 gallons of marinara; I package them in 20 oz batches for the freezer.