WOW! This Giada recipe was absolutely delicious. I stumbled upon it on The Food Network's website last week and bought all the ingredients to make it ASAP! While making it I became a little concerned that the end result may be a little to "lemony" tasting, but the flavoring was absolutely perfect. This is definitely going into the regular rotation!
Lemon Oil Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, zested
Pasta Ingredients:
- 1 pound linguini pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 shallots, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced (I used three instead of the 2 in the original recipe)
- 16 ounces of frozen shrimp
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 ounces of arugula (about 3 packed cups)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions:
For the lemon oil:
Combine the olive oil and the lemon zest in a small bowl and reserve.
For the pasta:
*Tip - Prep all the ingredients before you begin cooking. Dice the shallots, mince the garlic, zest the lemons, chop the parsley, etc. This will make the cooking process much less stressful when you get started!
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Make sure to salt the water!
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for about two minutes or until soft and fragrant. Add the frozen shrimp and cook until pink, which should be about five minutes. Stir the shrimp a little bit so that it thaws out quicker and breaks apart. I found that putting the lid on the skillet sped up the cooking process of the shrimp.
Once the shrimp is cooked, add the cooked linguini, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss well to combine. Turn off the head and add the arugula. Toss more so that the arugula is evenly distributed throughout the pasta.
Using a mesh sieve, strain the lemon zest out of the reserved lemon olive oil and add the oil to the pasta. Discard the zest. Add the chopped parsley to the pasta and toss more to combine. Serve immediately.
Try this recipe, it's perfect!