Shrimp Pasta

If you can't tell from these last two posts, seafood was on sale at the store this week. While I'm not always the biggest fan of seafood, I do love shrimp. Fried, steamed, grilled, all kinds. It's a good thing I love it because I've got a ton of it in my freezer right now. I thought a simple pasta dish would be good for dinner tonight and what better way to use up some of my shrimp. I thought I would throw some spinach in there for good measure, too. So that's how I came up with this easy and delicious dish. Dinner was ready in about 20 minutes. This is a perfect example of a quick and easy dinner with basic ingredients, and just goes to show that dinner doesn't have to be hard!

Shrimp Pasta with a lemon butter sauce
(for 2)

10-12 small shrimp, defrosted if frozen
4 oz vermicelli pasta
1/2 a lemon
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
1 tsp dried parsley

Begin by chopping the spinach and placing it in a serving bowl. Boil water and cook pasta until al dente (about 5 min for vermicelli). Drain the pasta and place in the bowl on top of the spinach. The warm pasta will help the spinach to wilt down a little. In a non-stick skillet, melt the butter. Add garlic and juice of half a lemon. Cook the garlic 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter over the pasta and spinach and toss to combine. Toss the shrimp in the same skillet and cook about 3 min or until pink. Place the shrimp on top of the pasta and sprinkle with parsley. Squeeze additional lemon juice over the shrimp if desired. Serve warm.