Shrimp, Squash, and Asparagus Linguine

This is a quick dish that I made last week when I was at a loss for dinner ideas. It turned out really good, so I thought I'd jot it down for future reference.

Now, I don't usually cook with shrimp. Especially recently, when all food seems expensive, but meats and particularly seafood seem very expensive. But for this one I forgive myself. A pound of cooked medium cocktail shrimp was $13, but that will stretch for at least three meals, and I comfort myself with the knowledge that this will give me something a little special in my repertoire for the next few weeks at less than $4.50 a meal, which seems more reasonable.

This recipe was also a good excuse for me to use a new birthday present: a mandoline. This is basically an inclined plane with a blade embedded in it, which you can adjust to make various thicknesses of slice. You just slide your veggie (or item-to-be-sliced) across it, and it very quickly renders thin, perfectly uniform slices. I love it. It's no substitute for real skill with a knife, of course, but in cases where you need things thin and fast, it's perfect.

This pasta was very good, by the way. I'm a big linguine fan, I like it better than spaghetti, and this is a simple way to really let the fresh summer vegetables that are just coming into season shine. Despite the presence of the shrimp, it's the asparagus and squash that really make this dish, and a simple cream sauce sets them all off perfectly. This tastes like something you'd pay a good bit for at a restaurant, but it comes together in about 20 minutes, and the hardest thing about it is making sure the pasta is al dente. Perfect for those nights when you want to cook, but don't need a huge production in the kitchen.

Shrimp, Squash, and Asparagus Linguine

1/3 lb linguine (whole grain is good if you can find it)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 scallion
1/2 bunch slender green asparagus, washed with tough ends snapped off
2 medium squash, washed
2 cloves garlic
1/3 lb shrimp (I used 1/3 of a frozen bag of already-cooked, but you could use fresh if you wanted)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped chives
Salt
Pepper

Start by putting water on to boil for the pasta. Toss a palmful of salt in there with it to season the pasta, and add noodles when it starts to boil.

While your pasta is doing you thing, slice the veggies. I used my new mandoline on the squash, which made the slicing fun and novel, but a knife would be fine. Just go for thin slices. Slice the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. If you're using frozen shrimp, run water over them for a few minutes to defrost them, and remove the tails. Dice the garlic finely. Slice the scallion thinly.

In a large saute pan, pour in the olive oil and add the squash. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the squash cook over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the garlic and scallion. Let that cook another 2 or three minutes, until the scallion is starting to turn translucent. The squash should be starting to get soft by this point. Add a little more olive oil if you need to so that nothing sticks. Add the shrimp and asparagus. Let that cook for another 2-3 minutes. The asparagus should be just starting to get bright green and a little softer, and the shrimp should be heated through.

By this point, the pasta should be done. Dump 1/2 cup or so of the pasta water into the saute pan with your veggies and shrimp, then drain the rest of the pasta and add it to the saute pan while it's still hot. Add the cream and the chives. Stir it all around a little, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer, stirring so that the cream doesn't stick, until the sauce thickens up appropriately. If you want to speed that process along, add a few pinches of cornstarch to the sauce, and stir vigorously to incorporate it. When it's been simmering for about 5 minutes, you should see the sauce really start to stick to the pasta, and it's done. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to season to taste. Remove from heat, and serve immediately.

Servings: 4