Angel hair pasta with sauteed shrimp, garlic, tomatoes, and basil.
What’s your go-to quick midweek meal?
Mine often involves angel hair pasta, because it cooks in only 3 minutes.
Elise Bauer
My other standby is shrimp, which also cooks almost as fast.
September is peak tomato season here in Sacramento, even more than August.
Our tomatoes are all ripening at once, catching the last rays of sunshine before we slip into fall.
Elise Bauer
They’re sweet and ripe, perfect for using for a quick pasta dish like this one.
Our trick for saving time?
Bring to a boil.
Elise Bauer
(You will be using this water to both blanch the tomatoes and boil the pasta.)
When the water is boiling, use a slotted spoon to lower the tomatoes into the water.
Blanch for no more than one minute, just enough to loosen the skins.
Elise Bauer
Remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon to a bowl of icy water, saving the blanching water.
Peel off the tomato skins from the tomatoes.
Cut the tomatoes crosswise in half, and squeeze out most of the seeds and juices.
Elise Bauer
Chop the tomatoes into 1-inch pieces.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan on medium high heat.
Add the shrimp to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Elise Bauer
Turn the shrimp over in the pan.
Lower the heat to medium.
Add the garlic, cook a minute more.
Elise Bauer
Add the chopped tomatoes and basil.
Cook for a minute more and remove from heat.
Add a tablespoon of salt to the water you used to blanch the tomatoes.
Elise Bauer
Bring to a boil again.
Add the angel hair pasta and cook for 3 minutes.
Drain the pasta and immediately add to pot with the shrimp and tomatoes.
Elise Bauer
Drizzle the pasta with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Then stir the pasta in with the shrimp and tomatoes.
Serve immediately or at room temp.
