Shrimp and Basil Sauce with Bowtie Pasta

Remember how I mentioned the great cookbook Colorado Classique the other day?

Well, I've decided I would eat pretty much every recipe in the whole darn book. So I figured if I was going to make it through all 250-some pages of recipes, I'd better get moving.

(I probably won't really make every single recipe, but I sure hope to try quite a few. Eventually I know I'll get distracted by other pretty food photos in other books and magazines. It happens often.)

So last week, at the same time I was making those darn tasty peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, I made Shrimp and Basil Sauce with Bowtie Pasta for dinner.


I began by processing 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 cup chopped fresh basil (well, it was supposed to be fresh, but I used basil I froze last summer, and it worked well), 6 cloves garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons lemon pepper in a food processor until blended.


This food processor is a new addition to our kitchen. I love it very much. I have already used it for a number of processing tasks, and once the basil starts growing again outside, I expect I'll burn the motor out making more pesto than I can possibly eat.

But anyhow. I got sidetracked there. Back to dinner.

I poured this basil-y mixture over 2 pounds of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined and resting quietly in a shallow dish. Then I covered the dish and placed it in the refrigerator, where the shrimp marinated for about an hour.


Meanwhile, I cooked 9 ounces of dry bowtie pasta until al dente and drained it. Then, once the shrimp had marinated, I drained the marinade from the dish and set it aside. The shrimp went in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter, and I sauteed them until pink.


Then I removed the shrimp using a slotted spoon and in their place added 3/4 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and the rest of the marinade to the skillet. I cooked all these fine ingredients over medium heat until they were heated through, stirring occasionally.


Next those darn shrimp went back into the pan. (They really get around, don't they?) I stirred them in and seasoned with salt and pepper.


Then it was time to serve the shrimp and sauce over the pasta, with a tasy side of asparagus and some homemade (er ... sort of ... I had a box mix to help me out) focaccia bread.


Yum.

(Oops. Don't beat me up over this, but I realized I just lied about the whole darn thing. This makes six servings, and I didn't want to make six, so I cut the whole recipe in half. But it's still the same deal as above, so I'm not going back to change my measurements. I'm sure you passed your elementary school math classes so you can figure out how to modify the recipe if you need to. That is all.)