Mothers Day Supper At Almost Heaven South

IF YOU HAVEN'T, PLEASE CHECK SATURDAYS POST ABOUT THE BLOGGER PARTY.

After making Mother's Day breakfast, Bev pretty well took the rest of the day off (as she should) and let me know the kitchen was mine for the day. I had planned to have a Tex Mex dinner, but she decided she’d like to have a pasta dish she’d seen on TV recently. She gave me the specifics she could remember (pasta with greens, cherry tomatoes, maybe shrimp), but in spite of my best searching efforts, which are not too good, I couldn’t find it. So I asked her a few more questions, like do you want red, white or clear sauce – clear. So I looked around some more and found an Ina Garten pasta recipe that uses a shrimp scampi sauce and we agreed we could use it and still add the greens and cherry tomatoes.

But before the pasta, we decided to deep-fry some asparagus that needed to be used – a nice problem to have. The last time I made it, I mentioned I was striving for it to be as good as Puleo’s Grill so I decided to try a Paula Deen recipe. I didn’t have any Creole mustard and found a recipe that said adding ¼ tsp worsey and some hot sauce to 3 tbsp Dijon mustard would do in a pinch, so that’s what I did. Otherwise, I followed her recipe. Bev found this device at Bass Pro Shops for adding breading to things and I used it for the final step – it works really well for this, but it’s another three piece device to wash. Ready to load.


First batch ready for the third breading step.


With the lid on.


After a few shakes, ready for frying.


First batch fried up.


I thought the sauce was a definite keeper for the asparagus, fried green tomatoes, etc. I, also, really liked the spices in the breading, but we all agreed we’d prefer more of a flour, than cornmeal, breading - ours was different than Puleo's but I liked the flavors just as well. Next time - same spices, different breading.

Following is Ina’s recipe for Linguine with shrimp scampi.
Ingredients
· Vegetable oil
· Kosher salt
· 3/4 pound linguine
· 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
· 2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
· 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
· 1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
· 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
· 1/2 lemon, zest grated
· 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
· 1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
· 1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions
Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

We followed the recipe except Bev wanted angel hair pasta and we added cherry tomatoes and spinach to the sauce after removing from the heat and we omitted the parsley. And, we can’t eat a pasta dish without a little fresh grated Parmigiano- Reggiano. After the appetizer, we really didn’t want anything else with the pasta and here’s my plate.



We loved it and Bev said “that’s as good as any restaurant pasta dish I ever had.” Thanks Ina for helping me please my darlin on her special day.

Hope you Mom’s had a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry