Cilantro Lime Pasta With Shrimp
This cilantro lime pasta with shrimp is a fusion of Italian and Thai flavors intertwined into one dish. It's flavorful, filling, and easy enough to whip up on a weeknight. This recipe is dairy-free and can also easily be made gluten-free or vegan.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dry long pasta noodles
Cilantro Pesto
- ⅓ cup raw pepitas
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 cups cilantro leaves and stems
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, plus more to taste
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, to taste reduce by half if using another kind
Shrimp
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt reduce by half if using another kind
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter dairy-free or regular
Instructions
- Add your noodles to salted boiling water and cook until al-dente according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water.
- In a large dry skillet over medium heat, toast the pepitas until lightly brown and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add them to the bowl of your food processor.
- In the same skillet, add a little olive oil and the diced shallots. Cook until translucent and add them to the bowl of your food processor along with the rest of the pesto ingredients. Blend until smooth, taste, and adjust the salt and/or lime juice as needed.
- Season the shrimp with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and cook in the butter over medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side until cooked through. Transfer to a covered plate and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Transfer the cooked pasta to the skillet, pour over the pesto, and a little over half of your reserved pasta water. Using tongs, scoop the pasta up and glide it through the sauce until all the noodles are well coated. Add more pasta water as needed. Top with shrimp, toss once more and serve.
Notes
Use a large skillet. Aside from cooking the pasta, all the action will be happening in the skillet, so you want to make sure it's large enough to mix in the cooked noodles, sauce, and shrimp.
Reserve some pasta water. The pasta water contains starch that is released when the pasta cooks and helps create a deliciously creamy sauce to coat the noodles.
Why cook the shallot for the pesto? It takes some of the raw, bitterness out and brings out its natural sweetness.
Make it easier by making the pesto ahead of time.
See the substitutions & variations section above if needed.