Butternut And Shrimp Pasta
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe by:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch (approximately 10 spears) asparagus, chopped into large pieces
  • 1 pound pappardelle pasta
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup chopped carrot
  • 1 cup chopped sweet pepper
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 4 cups butternut squash soup, such as ImagineĀ® Organic Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon Acadiana Table Cajun Seasoning Blend, see recipe here
  • 1 cup diced green onion tops
  • 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound jumbo (16/20 count) shrimp, shells removed, tails left on
  • 4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Instructions
  1. In a large pot filled halfway with water over high heat, add salt and bring to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook until just blanched but still crunchy, about 1 minute. Remove the asparagus and add to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and preserve the color. Add the pasta noodles and cook until al dente. Drain the noodles reserving 1 cup of the pasta water for later use.
  2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil along with the onion, celery, carrot, and pepper. Saute until the onion turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the butternut squash soup and cream. When it begins to bubble, lower the heat to simmer and let it cook as the mixture reduces and thickens.
  3. Add the Cajun seasoning along with the green onion and parsley. Taste the mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add enough pasta to the sauce to accommodate the number of guests you are serving (Note: Save any leftover pasta to add back to the sauce later.) Turn off the heat and let the pasta soak in the hot sauce.
  4. For serving, heat the pot containing the pasta and sauce and add the shrimp and the asparagus. Let cook until the shrimp turn pink and cook through, about 5 minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water to thin it out to sauce consistency (thick enough to coat the back of a spoon). Serve in bowls and garnish with a sprig of parsley.
Notes
Pre-cooking the asparagus with a quick blanching and holding in ice-water preserves its color and crunch. I leave the tails on the shrimp for presentation, but feel free to remove them. I urge you to source wild-caught Gulf shrimp from the waters off the Louisiana coast for best quality. I like the jumbo size shrimp in this, but it will work just as well with smaller (26/35 count) shrimp. The sweet peppers I use are the colorful mini-peppers in the bags sold in most supermarkets these days; traditional bell pepper will work just as well. My recipe holds back on the heat with only a little Cajun seasoning, so feel free to jack up the spice with your favorite hot sauce. The packaged soup makes this easy, and I see the Imagine brand soups in many supermarkets, or you can order them online. That said, feel free to make your butternut puree from cubes of squash simmered in heavy cream with a dash of cinnamon and blended.
Recipe by Acadiana Table at https://www.acadianatable.com/?p=26323