Shrimp Linguine

It was about 6 years ago, a few weeks before Mina was born, and we were deep into the midwest winter. I was on the hunt for the perfect diaper bag at my favorite outdoor mall. It was cold, it was windy, and there was slush everywhere, but I was hungry so we were’t going home till I found something to eat. We were aimlessly walking around until I came across an empty restaurant with a barely visible menu plastered outside. I squinted through the snow (yes it had started snowing at that point) and saw they had pizza and pasta, and that was enough for me. We walked in on that cold winter afternoon, and we never looked back. It became our little haven, our happy place, and boy do I miss going there ever since Covid hit. Everything on their menu is “chef’s kiss” but my favorite is their shrimp linguine. I’ve been missing it so much that I decided to recreate it at home, and it turned out pretty darn amazing.

I make this in the oven because in my opinion the caramelization you get on the tomatoes in an oven are very difficult to recreate stove top, but feel free to make this on your stove. Here’s what you’ll need for 2 servings:

1/2 pound linguine

1.5 cups cherry tomatoes

1 Tblspn olive oil

salt to taste

pinch of black pepper

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

2 Tblspn butter

2 Tblspn veggie stock

12-14 shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tblspn toasted breadcrumbs

parsley/basil and parmesan to serve

Preheat your oven to 400 F. In an oven proof dish add the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, black pepper and chilli flakes. Mix and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tomatoes are roasted and caramelized. Take the dish out of the oven, then add the butter, veggie stock, shrimp, lemon zest and garlic. Bake for another 10 minutes. While the dish is in the oven boil the linguine according to box instructions.

Once the shrimp is cooked through take the dish out of the oven. Add the drained linguine, the toasted bread crumbs, parmesan and basil. You can add parsley if you prefer that over basil. Mix and taste for seasoning. Enjoy with a crusty bread and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice. The bread crumbs aren’t essential, but they add so much to the dish, soaking up the flavorful sauce and sticking to the linguine so you get the delicious buttery sauce in every bite.