What I really wanted to call this recipe was:
“Squid Ink Pasta with Shrimp and Artichokes in a Garlic Butter and Lemon White Wine Sauce”
But there was no way I could fit that all in the title of this post, never mind on the branded picture below. But, now you know what’s really in this dish of awesomeness. Oh. Except I forgot the basil. So maybe it should have been:
“Squid Ink Pasta with Shrimp and Artichokes in a Garlic Butter Lemon Basil White Wine Sauce”
Too much?
Okay, let’s talk about the freaky looking black pasta. Because that’s really all it is: freaky looking. It doesn’t taste any different than regular pasta. It will not turn into worms on your plate, despite the fact that it looks like creepy worms.
What this pasta is, is regular old spaghetti coloured black with ink from the squid’s butt. Yum. I found my squid butt ink pasta at Superstore.
However, the pasta is not essential to this dish.
I repeat: you do not need squid ink pasta to make this dish.
It was just a novelty that I happened to have on hand and wanted to try out. Plus, it was a date night, or a 50% date night (which is totally a thing when you ditch one of the kids, but have one or more left with you), because the toddler was having a sleepover at the grandparents’ house. (Can I get an “amen for grandparents!”??) Anyway, so it was a 50% date night and I wanted to make something kind of pretty.
But. The real star of the show is the sauce. Oh my word, the sauce. I was looking for something that would contrast nicely with the pasta. Almost every squid ink pasta recipe I looked up called for shrimp. I was going to go for a type of scampi, and as I was opening up my fridge to grab a lemon, I spotted the marinated artichokes and I’m pretty sure I heard angels start to sing.
I Googled to make sure I wasn’t crazy (I was cooking with wine), and came across this recipe by Paula Deen for a shrimp scampi with marinated artichokes. Now, normally I would probably opt for olive oil in lieu of that much butter, but I was feeling reckless and went with it. Let me tell you, there is a reason this sauce is so decadent. Half a cup of butter will do that.
Of course, I couldn’t fathom a scampi dish without lemon, so I added that, and one of the reviewers mentioned that they had added shallots, which I thought was brilliant, so I also went with that. Finally, I didn’t reduce my sauce down like they instructed to.
I like to live on the edge like that.
Squid Ink Pasta with Shrimp and Artichokes
Ingredients
- 250 g squid ink pasta or other pasta such as spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot sliced
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lb large shrimp peeled, deveined and tails removed
- 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- Fresh grated Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil and melt the butter. Add the garlic and shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the white wine, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the shrimp and artichokes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just pink, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the basil.
- Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately, topped with Parmesan cheese.
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