Lemon Cream Sauce

I often serve this over cheese ravioli, but any pasta will work fine. Another absolute favorite of mine even if Patricia's instructions are a bit over the top. heh heh heh....mmmm.....

Pasta with Lemon Sauce

from "Trattoria" by Patricia Wells

4 T unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Grated zest of 3 lemons (please buy yourself one of these for zesting they are amazing)
3 T fresh flat-leaf italian parsley, snipped (chopped) with scissors
Freshly grated Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for the table (optional)

In a skillet large enough to hold the pasta later, combine the butter, cream, and lemon juice over low heat. As soon as the butter is melted, remove the skillet from the heat, cover, and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Add 3 T salt & the pasta, stirring to prevent the pasta from sitcking. Cook until tender. Drain, leaving a few drops of water clinging to the pasta so that the sauce will adhere. (memorize this technique and use it every time you make pasta.)

Transfer the pasta to the skillet, off the heat and toss to blend. Add the lemon zest and toss once more. Cover and let rest for 1 to 2 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Transfer to warmed shallow soup bowls, shower with the parsley leaves and serve immediately. (make sure you shower the parsley, don't just drop it willy nilly! ha ha ha) Pass freshly grated cheese if desired.

Crab & Shrimp Fettucine

A decadent recipe I made up, influenced by Anthony's crab & shrimp fettucine and Biba Caggiono's Gorgonzola cream sauce. I will do my best to come up with measurements, but I've never written down this recipe before. If you are ready to splurge, use frozen crab meat ($12-$23 per lb, already removed from the shell) from the seafood counter and the tiny pink bay shrimp. If you are feeling a bit stingy, try using just prawns instead.

Crab & Shrimp Fettucine

serves 2

4 T butter
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms (1/4 inch)
1 cup sliced & halved zuchinni (1/4 inch, 1/2 moon shape)
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola
1/4 - 1/3 lb of fresh crab meat (buy it removed from the shell, previously frozen is ok)
1/2 lb bay shrimp (the small pink ones) picked over to remove bits of legs & shell
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped & seeded (only use the outside flesh)
1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh parmesan, plus more for garnish
1/2 - 3/4 lb linguini

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil once you have the ingredients for this dish ready. Put the linguini in as you start melting the butter for the sauce, they should be ready about the same time.

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat until melted. Add garlic & cook for a few seconds. Add mushrooms & zuchinni. Stir once & then let them sit a couple minutes so that they sear & turn golden brown on the bottom. Stir and let them sit again for a minute or so. Once they are browned & starting to soften, add white wine. Reduce for 2 minutes. Turn heat to medium and pour in the cream & gorgonzola. Stir until cheese melts into sauce, but do not let the sauce simmer or boil. (turn heat down if you need to) Reduce heat to low and add the crab, shrimp and tomatoes & let them heat and soak up the sauce for a couple minutes. Stir in the parmesan. Put individual servings of pasta (you don't need to use it all) into bowls & pour sauce over top. Serve with more parmesan and lemon wedges. (or squeeze a bit of lemon over the sauce before serving.)

Pesto Shrimp Scampi

This has been one of my very favorite treats ever since I "stole" the recipe from the restaurant Pasta Bella (Seattle) and made it for my roommates in college. I actually just made the recipe up, based on theirs, so maybe I didn't really steal it. I made this recently for some friends and would you believe I accidentally grabbed a pint of egg nog instead of cream & dumped it in? I screamed so loud that Kyle thought I had chopped a finger off. Luckily it was still edible, just sort of sweet.

This cooks very fast, so have the ingredients ready and don't start until you are ready to eat.

Pesto Shrimp Scampi

Serves 2

1 lb prawns, peeled & deveined (no smaller than 26/30 per pound, the bigger the better)

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 14oz can of quartered artichoke hearts

1/2 c whipping cream (or to taste - 1/4 c is enough to make it creamy)
1/4 of a fresh lemon
1 c of dry white wine (open a bottle to drink with dinner!)

Pesto

1 large bag of basil (not the tiny plastic containers)

1 head of garlic

1/4 c olive oil

Parmesan

lots of crusty bread

First, prepare the "pesto". (You could also buy good quality prepared pesto and omit some garlic, oil & the basil) In a food processor, chop up 4-8 cloves of garlic. Remove 1/2 of it & save. Add basil leaves (not the stems) to the processor and enough oil to get it all pureed together. 1/4 cup oil should be enough, and you can add up to 2T water to help get it mixed together. You should have about 3/4 cup pesto when you are finished.

Heat 2 T olive oil over medium high heat. Add shrimp, garlic & about 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir to coat and cook for a minute or so until the shrimp start to turn pink but are NOT cooked through.

Dump in the white wine & turn the heat to high so it simmers quickly. Add tomatoes & artichoke hearts & let the wine reduce down for about 2-4 minutes, depending on how big your shrimp are. If you boil too long, the shrimp will overcook, so be careful! Large shrimp give you more time to boil down the wine.

Stir in the cream and let it heat till bubbling again. Turn heat to low. Stir in the pesto & squeeze the lemon wedge over it all. Remove from heat, sprinkle with parmesan & grind some fresh pepper over the top.

Serve in soup bowls with lots of bread on the side to mop up the sauce. You can also put this over pasta, but its not as fun.