A summery restart- Sausage and shrimp pasta in lemon-thyme sauce

When someone tells you that doing a dissertation takes over you life, believe them. The last few months sucked everything out of me. All kinds of emotions were brought forth. Hopelessness, Awe, Anger, Frustration, and Elation. I was in a complicated relationship with it as PhDComics will say Jumping through hoops and performing tricks was the norm in this relationship, but am I glad I got a divorce. Finally done with it all. Cooking served as respite from all the stress, taking out my anger on the vegetables. Indulging in some decadent desert. I cooked during this time, but all the writing juice was gone in those pages, never to be read again. I think I’m back to cooking again and what better way to start blogging that on beginning of Summer. (Happy Summer Solstice)

This recipe came was inspired by a spaghetti photo contest hosted by Dario at foodpixels to come with a creative way to shoot spaghetti. A light take on summer with a lemon-thyme sauce to accompany the shrimp and sausages.

A summery restart- Sausage and shrimp pasta in lemon thyme sauce

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butternut squash, diced
• 6 tsp of fresh thyme
• Zest of 2 lemons
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 andouille sausages, sliced into medallions
• 1/2 cup of tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup of red pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup of sliced red onions
• 1/4 cup of jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 tsp of pepper flakes
• 8 tbs of olive oil
• 1 lb of shrimp, deveined and peeled
• 1/2 lb of spaghetti
• 1/4 cup of pasta water
• 3 basil leaves
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Marinate the shrimp with 2 tbs of oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon and 2 tsp of thyme with salt & pepper
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Toss the butternut squash with 1 tsp of thyme, 1 tbs of olive oil along with salt & pepper.
4. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.
5. (The butternut squash can be roasted ahead of time)
6. Put a saute pan on a burner over medium high heat.
7. Add 3 tbs of oil to the pan and brown the andouille sausage in batches.
8. Saute the tomatoes and the peppers.
9. Add in the butternut squash along with the remaining lemon juice and thyme.
10. Add in the white and let reduce for a little bit ( depends on how thick or thin you want the sauce).
11. Put a pot of water on the cooker to cook the spaghetti.( Make sure its properly salted)
12. Once the water is on a boil, cook spaghetti according to package instructions. (10-12 mins)
13. Drain the shrimp from the marinate and pat dry.
14. Sauté them in batches in a saute until just pink.
15. Drain the pasta and reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.
16. Add the spaghetti back into the pot with 2 tbs of olive oil, the pasta water, shrimp and sausage along with vegetables cooked in the lemon-thyme sauce.
17. Let cook for 2 minutes and toss the in the pot to make everything is incorporated properly.
18. Add in the chopped onions, chopped basil and red pepper flakes

1.2.4

Enjoy. PS: Anyone know of a beach where a bonfire can be set ? A couple of friends are trying to have cathartic breakup with our dissertations. I am also thinking of doing something I was doing before I started blogging called ” Feast for Six” I’ll share more details in the next post.