Hello and welcome back to my tasty corner of the paper!
This week I have a scrumptious recipe to share with you that was a hit at my house, but before you get discouraged about how much this might cost I have that part covered too. So, pull up a chair and grab a tasty snack because this recipe is going to make you hungry!
This week I bring to you a recipe I made up that is full of seafood over pasta in a light and bright cream sauce. For this recipe you will need:
• 4 frozen lobster tails
• 1 bag frozen scallops (if you can get fresh and prefer that do it!)
• 1 bag colossal frozen shrimp (again get fresh if you prefer)
• ½ – 1 cup grated parmesan
• 1 ½ cups fresh spinach
• ½ – ¾ cup roasted red pepper (I used it from a jar but you can roast your own)
• 1 ½ – 2 cups heavy cream
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic minced
• 1 box red lentil pasta
• Garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
Start by thawing all frozen items and removing lobster tails from their shells and the shells and tails from shrimp. I cut the lobster tails down the middle then into big chunks. Sprinkle all seafood with garlic powder and set aside. Then put on a large pot of water to boil – don’t forget to salt the water. While you wait for the water to boil, melt about 2 – 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan and sear your seafood in batches. You don’t want the meat to be crowded in the pan so I cooked the shrimp first, then the scallops, then the lobster.
Once the seafood is all cooked, add another tablespoon or two of butter to the pan along with the minced garlic. Don’t forget to add your red lentil pasta to the water and cook according to the directions on the box. Let the garlic and butter simmer for about 1 minute then add 1 stick of butter, the heavy cream, parmesan and lemon juice and stir frequently until it’s all blended really well.
Now add in the spinach and roasted red peppers and let this simmer for 3-5 minutes.
By now the pasta should be done, so dump it in a colander and then add the seafood to your cream sauce. Let the sauce with all that yummy seafood simmer for about 5 minutes and serve over the red lentil pasta!
To pair with this incredibly creamy and robust dish, Annie and Clay at The Village Wine Shop have chosen a lovely, French Chardonnay called “Prochaine!” Translated to English, it means “next or forthcoming.”
The wine duo said, “This wine is from the Languedoc region in the south of France and is part of the Provence region. In America, we like to distinguish wines by their grape. In Europe however, they are only concerned with where the wine was grown! A Languedoc wine will have bold body, high minerality (tasting the soils), and to the eye is a beautiful straw-colored hue. The Prochaine was first kept in Amphora; those large, round-bellied clay jars and hidden in pits from ‘passersby or raiders!’ Today, resting in French oak makes this lovely a perfect pair for such a rich and tasty dish! The semi-dry Chardonnay will make the seafood pop and tantalize the cream! Best served at 41 degrees!”
So in the beginning I told you I had the cost covered in addition to the recipe and I am a woman of my word.
If you had to buy every ingredient for this meal the cost would be $66.09 and this could easily feed a family of 5, which would bring the total per person to $13.22! That is a really good deal – a seafood pasta dish for under $20 each.
You could easily make this vegetarian by swapping out the seafood for more veggies like asparagus, mushrooms, eggplant etc. You could stretch this even further by adding a salad and some buttery, crusty bread and have leftovers for a smaller family.
No matter what you do, make it your own and keep thinking outside the box, and as always, I am sending love from my kitchen to yours.
Lindsey lives in White Sulphur Springs with her wife Candi and their nephew Austin. By day Lindsey is a Service Coordinator at Seneca Health Services in the IDD/Waiver program. Lindsey enjoys spending time with family and friends, entertaining when possible but most importantly she loves cooking from the heart.
