Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Shrimp

I saw this recipe for Vegan GF Roasted Red Pepper Pasta on Pinterest, it looked so good that I had to make it for dinner ASAP. The only thing is, I'm not vegan or gluten free, and didn't particularly want to buy almond milk or nutritional yeast for one recipe. So, instead, I quickly went about making it a lot less healthy. Heavy cream? Check. Oh, and I added shrimp, because I'm pretty pro- protein.

I'd never roasted a pepper before and was truthfully a little nervous about it (the last time a recipe called for it, I bought jarred red peppers instead!) but it turns out it's super easy. They just cook in the oven over high heat for a while, then you pull them out and peel all of the skin off and you're good to go.

Jeff said we should add this to our regular rotation, which was basically a standing ovation from him. I'm not sure how often we'll make it because it took about an hour to pull everything together, but damn was this good.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Shrimp (adapted from Minimalist Baker)

Serves 4

You'll Need:

2 large red peppers

8 oz spaghetti or linguine noodles

6 oz frozen shrimp, uncooked and deveined

5 TB olive oil, divided

2 shallots, minced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or just a pinch if you don't like things spicy), plus more for serving

Parmesan cheese, grated

Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees F. Rinse peppers and place on a baking sheet. Roast 25-30 minutes, until the outside is lightly charred. Remove from oven and wrap in tin foil for ten minutes to steam. Peel off skin (should come off easily) and remove stem and seeds. Set aside.

While peppers are roasting, bring a heavily salted pot of water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain pasta, then put back in pot and toss with 1 TB olive oil. Cover the pot and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, defrost the shrimp and then peel. Set aside.

Heat 2-3 TB olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sautee until golden brown and softened, 4-5 minutes. Season heavily with salt and pepper and remove from pan.

Add additional TB of oil to pan and sautee shrimp until cooked through and opaque, 1-2 minutes per side. Remove from pan

Put roasted red peppers, shallot/garlic mixture, cream, and milk in a food processor (or blender if you don't have a food processor) and blend until creamy and smooth. Taste and season with more salt and pepper as necessary.

Pour sauce into your pan and turn heat to medium high until sauce begins to simmer, then reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens, 2-3 minutes. Add pasta, shrimp, and a little dash of olive oil, and toss to combine. Serve, topping with red pepper flakes, parsley, and parmesan cheese. Like, a lot of parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

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