Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp

I rarely walk into the kitchen without a plan. I’m just not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-britches kinda girl. No shame in my game – I leave that stuff to the pros. Or to the far more creative and patient.

Sometimes the best meals are born out of hard work, research, and trial-and-error. The bookshelves full of cookbooks in the den proves that. Others are born on out of impulse, although I think “desperation” might be a more accurate description of what sometimes goes on around here.

How did the line from that movie go? You got kool-aid, no sugar; peanut butter, no jelly; ham, no burger…

Like quiche, pasta is one of those dishes that’s perfect to use up a random collection of leftover and seemingly mismatched ingredients. Like the one last tablespoon of butter that’s wrapped like a mummy in confetti-like scraps of its original paper, a slice of lemon that doesn’t have an accompanying glass of sweet tea, and a how-long-has-that-been-in-there bag of uncooked shrimp from the bottom of the freezer.

Voila! Dinner.

I feel like I should get a gold star – or better, a cookie – for quoting Chris Tucker and using the word “britches.” And all in the same post.

Pasta with Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Shrimp
8 oz pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes*
8 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lemon wedge
2 oz goat cheese
Chopped fresh parsley, for serving

Add pasta to a pot of boiling water and cook according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water before draining.

Heat oil and butter over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add garlic and red pepper, stirring and cooking until garlic just begins to brown. Add sun-dried tomatoes and shrimp, cooking shrimp thoroughly. Turn off the heat. Squeeze the juice from the lemon wedge and crumble the goat cheese over the hot shrimp.

Add pasta to saute pan with a bit of the reserved pasta water. Toss until pasta is coated, adding more water to reach desired consistency. Divide between two bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

* I always buy “sun-ripened” tomatoes. Moisture-wise, they’re a happy medium between tomatoes packed in oil and the completely dehydrated tomatoes that you have to recharge with hot water. You can eat these straight from the package If you have oil-packed tomatoes, drain the oil. If you use completely dry tomatoes, I’d recharge them a bit to soften them.

Yields: 2 servings
Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Originally uploaded by Confections of a Foodie Bride.