Oh, how I miss Wine Wednesday. I know it's not Wednesday but Labor Day, being a holiday reminds me of my once, every Wednesday ritual of wine and lemon cream shrimp pasta with the girls. It always felt like a vacation in the middle of the week. I am not going to name the restaurant, but they make a pasta with a citrus sauce that is as close to the dish I had with my father in Florence Italy, as I can find. Once we came home from that first trip to Italy, he challenged me to re-create the sauce. I was almost spot on with my work. It had orange and lemon in it. It was divine.
It's been raining cats and dogs for 24+ hours straight. Not the end of the world but my dog is going stir crazy because she, like me, is made of sugar and doesn't like to get wet. I, needing something to do, decided to make pasta from scratch and pizza dough to use tomorrow. I now also realized I need to hire a maid to clean my floors. Where does one find a maid in East Tennessee??
I didn't have any oranges in the house but plenty of lemons. The sauce is really easy to make but I suggest you have it with fresh pasta. Making pasta is not as intimidating as it might seem. I was having fun with it and decided to make pappardelle, a wide noodle that ended up being four feet long. I like having a sense of humor in my cooking and one noodle is an entire serving. They stayed intact and cooked up perfectly. It was a challenge removing them from the water but it made for a good laugh. I did change the pasta recipe a bit from my previous post. What follows was what worked today with the humidity.
Fresh Pasta
2 cups AP Flour
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2 tsp good olive oil
Pile the flour on a board. Making a well in the center of the flour add the eggs, salt, and olive oil. Mix in using a fork and then knead with your hands for about 6 minutes or until the dough is shiny. Form into two discs and wrap in plastic. Allow the pasta to rest for 45 minutes. Then using additional flour roll out the sheets and cut into desired size. To cook, boil in salted water for 3-4 minutes.
Lemon Cream Sauce & Shrimp
1 cup half & half
2 lemons zested
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of salt
pinch of onion powder
Uncooked peeled shrimp, thawed in cold water
Place the half and half in a pot with the zest and spices and bring to a slow simmer. Remove from heat and allow to sit for a bit. Cook the shrimp in a tablespoon of butter and tablespoon of olive oil and then add the juice of one lemon. Strain the cream sauce into the pan with the shrimp and allow to simmer. Serve over fresh pasta.
With the additional pasta dough I made some other kinds and am allowing it to dry for future use.
You are amazing!
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