Cajun Shrimp (Blackened) with Sausage and Pasta

I just noticed that it has been a month and a half since I posted a recipe.  I have been cooking though.  Charlie has made a lot of new friends at two car clubs he has joined since he customized his 93 Caddie.  He has had them over twice for BBQ.  First time it was ribs and brisket, second time it was ribs and lamb. In between another friend of his asked if I could do some ribs for his daughter's high school graduation.  Turns out he wanted me to do 16 slabs.  My smoker isn't big enough to do more that three at a time. It took  four days to do that many. 

Today I was planning to do an egg drop soup that had creamed corn, chicken and thickened with corn starch.  When I took the chicken thigh that I got yesterday out of the refrigerator and opened it up, it was spoiled so I went to plan B. I had the shrimp in the freezer and everything else on hand and made this Cajun pasta dish instead.  One picture is before it had garnish, the other after.

Paul Bittinger

June 6 at 11:09 PM 

 

·CAJUN SHRIMP PASTA WITH SAUSAGE

Ingredients :

½ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed

1 andouille sausage, about ½ pound, sliced into rounds

1 – 2 tablespoons cajun/creole spice mix, adjust to your spice/heat level

Olive oil

½ medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon cajun/creole spice mix

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 – 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (1 large or 2 small)

½ cup crushed tomatoes

¾ cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

¾ cup heavy cream, or ½ & ½ (I prefer heavy cream!!)

12 ounces fettuccine or farfalle (bowties)

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Grated Parmesan and chopped parsley, for serving

Directions :

Bring large pot of water to boil for pasta. Toss shrimp with 1 – 2 tablespoons of cajun seasoning and coat well. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and drizzle bottom of pan with olive oil. Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes or so until starting to curl. Flip shrimp over and cook another minute or two and then remove to a plate and set aside. Drizzle pan with a little more olive oil, add sausage and brown until nicely caramelized, about 4 – 5 minutes. Remove to plate, set aside.

Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook until al dente, a minute less than package instructions.

Lower heat to medium and add another good drizzle of olive oil to the pan, add the onion, red bell pepper, thyme, smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning, brown sugar and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until onion and pepper have softened a bit, scraping up any browned bits that you can. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add crushed tomatoes, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, simmer a couple minutes. Add cream and stir to combine, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add cooked pasta and andouille sausage and stir to combine and heat through, 2 – 3 minutes. Add more chicken broth or cream if it seems dry or you’d like more sauce (I added ¼ cup of each). Salt and pepper to taste and then lastly, add blackened shrimp and combine, or place shrimp on top of pasta. Sprinkle with some more freshly cracked black pepper, grated Parmesan and chopped parsley