I love pasta. (I mean who doesn’t?) We have it once a week at least and it usually on a night that we are really busy and I have to just throw something together quickly. Pasta’s good for those kinds of nights. This pasta with romesco sauce and shrimp comes together in about a half hour. It’s a light, fresh and bright perfect weeknight dinner that takes minimal prep. You don’t even need to use a cutting board.
Here’s what you need:
If you have a store bought romesco sauce that you love, use that. For me, nothing beats homemade. And I happen to know a great recipe for homemade romesco sauce that I make in large batches, divide into containers and freeze so I have it ready to thaw and use any time I need it!
The only “prep” you need to do in advance here is to set your goat cheese out to soften about an hour ahead of time. Phew! Sorry, I know that’s a lot.
Combine the softened goat cheese with the romesco sauce.
Cook your pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water. (Don’t forget to reserve a little pasta water for your sauce after the pasta is done cooking.) While it’s boiling, you can get started on everything else. Heat a pan to medium and sauté the cherry tomatoes with a little salt until they begin to blister.
Scoot the tomatoes to one side and add the shrimp to the pan and season them with a little salt. Cook the shrimp for a minute to two minutes on each side, depending on the size.
Add the romesco-goat cheese sauce to the pan along with a little pasta water to loosen it up.
Finally add the cooked pasta and toss with whole or torn fresh herbs. Top with chili flakes and/or black pepper and some fresh parmesan!
Other recipes to try:
Pasta with Shrimp, Goat Cheese and Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
- 8 oz penne pasta
- 16 oz shrimp any size, peeled and deveined
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup romesco sauce
- 4 oz plain goat cheese at room temperature
- 1-2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1-2 tbsp fresh basil chopped
Instructions
- Combine the romesco sauce and softened goat cheese in a small bowl and set aside. Cook pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. While the pasta is cooking start by heating a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add the tomatoes and season with salt. Sauté until the tomatoes begin to blister. Scoot the tomatoes over to one side of the pan and add the shrimp. Season the shrimp with salt and cook them until pink, about 2 minutes on each side, (this will depend on the size of shrimp you have.)Pour the romesco/ goat cheese mixture into the pan and toss with the shrimp and tomatoes. Reserve a few ounces of pasta water before draining. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss. Add a little bit of pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce. Remove from heat and add the fresh herbs and serve.
Perfect Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for roasting the veggies
- 2 red bell pepper.
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 whole garlic head sliced horizontally about a third of the way through to expose the whole cloves
- 1 slice of crusty day-old or toasted bread about a 2 ounce slice
- 1/4 cup toasted almonds
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus more for roasting veggies
- 2 tbsp parsley rough chopped
- 2 tbsp basil (optional) rough chopped
- 1 tsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the bell peppers, tomatoes, and halved garlic head on a sheet pan and drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 20-25 minutes. Use tongs once or twice through the cooking process to turn the ingredients to make sure everything is evenly browned. Allow to cool a bit before handling.Peel off any skin from bell peppers that has become separated from the meat and also remove the stem and seeds. Use your fingers to squeeze the whole roasted cloves of garlic from their skins. Place the peppers and garlic in the bowl of a food processor along with the tomatoes, almonds, herbs, olive oil, salt and vinegars. Purée until smooth then add the bread, cut up into small pieces. Allow the bread to sit in the sauce for a couple minutes to soften then purée until the sauce is smooth. Add more salt or vinegar if needed. Enjoy immediately or store in the refridgerator for up to a week.