Garlic & Lime Shrimp Alfredo

This is a pretty easy dinner to throw together in under 30 minutes; it's my go-to meal during the week when I want to make something tasty quickly. Like a lot of the recipes I've posted so far, you can always tweak this to fit what you have on hand. Chicken works just as well, though you'd obviously need to increase the cooking time.


Garlic & Lime Shrimp Alfredo

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 lb of shimp, peeled and deveined(fresh or frozen, just make sure frozen shrimp are thawed)

2 tb butter OR olive oil

2 tb minced garlic

1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

lime juice (about 2 limes or 4-6 tb)

2 tsp garlic salt

2 c pasta (I used a combo of mini penne and bowtie)

boiling pot of water

1 jar Bertolli or Classico alfredo sauce

1/4 c white wine (Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay all work)**

1/4 c whipping cream or half n half

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese (for garnish/extra flavor--do not use the pre-grated kind that comes in a can; that has its place, but not in this dish)

**May be omitted, but won't be as tasty--be sure to increase the cream amount to make up for the lost liquid



Start by getting your water boiling for your pasta. While you wait for the water to boil, in a separate, larger pan, cook the minced garlic in the butter/oil on medium. Once that begins to get fragrant, add the shrimp, along with the Old Bay, most of the lime juice (reserve about 2 tb or 1/2 a lime), and 1 1/2 tsp of the garlic salt. Add the remaining garlic salt to the water for the pasta. Don't forget to add the pasta to the boiling water once it's boiling!



Depending on the size of your shrimp, they should take 3-6 minutes to cook, stirring occasionally. If you've never cooked shrimp before, you'll notice they go from a sort of shiny translucence to white opaqueness. Before the shrimp are completely cooked, add the wine, and then the jar of alfredo sauce.



The reason you do this before the shrimp are totally cooked is to keep from overcooking them. Overcooked shrimp are not as good. At this point, add the cream or half n half. You can add more or less cream called for if you want to change the thickness of the sauce. It will thicken more from here, but if you like a really thin sauce, you'll want to increase the amount cream/half n half.



Stir this up good. Check your pasta. It should be getting close to done. Turn the heat down to medium low on the shrimp/alfredo sauce. Now, you can either add your parmesan cheese, or you can reserve it to be a garnish. I like just mixing it in.



By now, your pasta should be done. If it's not, turn the shrimp alfredo to low and wait for the pasta to get finished. When the pasta is done, strain out the water, then add the pasta directly to the pan with the shrimp alfredo.



Add the remaining lime juice. Stir everything together. Dish out into bowls to serve. This should make 3-4 servings, depending on how much shrimp you used.



Om nom nom!