Our Thanksgiving feast is also an opportunity to celebrate my mini chef's birthday, and she was feted with an abundance of gifts and a red velvet cake covered with pink cream cheese frosting and coloured candies.
Thoroughly glutted on turkey (and counting the days to our Christmas one) and knowing one of her favourite people was coming for a visit this week, Emily decided to make this shrimp and pasta dish for supper. Initially, going through cook books Tuesday night she suggested calzones, but I redirected her. Calzones, while delicious, are a considerable amount of work for a school night. She likes Mexican fare, and pasta, so this recipe appealed to her sensibilities, since she was dead set on Italian (for the pasta, I'm sure).
While she ran an errand or two with Peter, pleased I think to have him all to herself for a little while, I peeled the shrimp I had thawed, chopped an onion and assembled the rest of her ingredients in an effort to speed the process since they did not return home until almost 6.
Emily heated some oil in a large pan and added shrimp, and quickly pointed out I had missed a few tails. She then stirred in chili powder & salt. Once the shrimp were mostly cooked we spooned them into another bowl and replaced them in the pan with more oil and the dry pasta. I helped her toast it then remove it to another bowl as well. Next she sauteed the onion before adding a can of diced tomatoes, water and the noodles. Once this came to a boil she covered it and let it simmer until the liquid was absorbed and the pasta was tender. She stirred in the shrimp and heated everything through and dinner was ready. She asked if I had cilantro as a garnish, which I did not, so I ducked out to the garden to clip a little parsley instead.
As usual dinner was very good, and went into a thermos for lunch today. We made a few alterations, omitting the green pepper, which none of us like particularly and using preseasoned canned tomatoes (cracked black pepper & olive oil, although the roasted red pepper version would have been very good too, perhaps making up for the lack of green peppers)
Tex-Mex Shrimp & Noodles
1/4 cup vegetable oil (divided) 1 onion, thinly sliced
1 650 gram package shrimp, peeled & deveined 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons chili powder 1-540 ml can diced tomatoes
salt 12 ounces broken angel hair pasta
sour cream, pickled jalapenos & chopped fresh cilantro for topping
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven or wide pot over medium high heat, add the shrimp, chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil to the pan with the pasta. Cook, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes, transfer to a separate bowl.
Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion, bell pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt & 1-2 tablespoons water to the pot. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes.
Increase the heat to medium high, stir in 2 cups of water, the tomatoes, toasted noodles and another 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring to break up any clumps. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally until the noodles are tender and most of the water has been absorbed, 10-12 minutes. Stir in the shrimp.
Top each serving with sour cream, pickled jalapenos and cilantro
