Sun Dried Tomato and Shrimp Pasta with Artichokes & Mushrooms

Or should I call this Sun Dried Tomato and Shrimp Pasta with Artichokes and Bad Mushrooms? I can't believe I used them. They were picked out before I ate the pasta, yet it caused me to consider how not-perfect mushrooms were used and thus there was not-perfect mushroom juice all over the pretty shrimp and noodles and artichokes. Oy!

Anyway, now that I have about 2 lbs of sun-dried tomatoes in oil, I haven't found a second recipe to use them in. And that's where the manufacturer's website came in handy. Use fresh ingredients.

Sun Dried Tomato and Shrimp Pasta with Artichokes & Mushrooms
adapted from Bella Sun Luci
click to print

12 oz spaghetti
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 large shallot, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
3/4 c Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil & Herbs, julienne
13 oz marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
1-2 tbsp butter
1/2 c dry white wine
1 lb. shrimp (medium)
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated

Bring water to a boil. Cook pasta according to directions and drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, coat large deep sauté pan with oil and heat on medium.


Add garlic and chopped shallots and sauté until tender (approx 5 minutes).


Stir in sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, mushrooms, and butter.


Add wine and allow it to reduce by about half over 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Stir in shrimp and cook until shrimp is cooked, approximately 5 minutes.


Add pinch of crushed red pepper to taste, drained pasta, and pasta water; combine well.


Top with a portion of grated cheese; serve with remaining cheese.



Great flavor combinations in this dish - and so fast to prepare once the mise en place is done! I was really hating that I used older mushrooms and got all weird about it. I really like sun-dried tomatoes a lot and wonder why I haven't used them in everything, replacing fresh tomatoes.

What's the story with my gradually becoming anti-tomato?

Cost:

• spaghetti: $0.70 
• peanut oil: $0.11
• shallot: $0.13 
• garlic: $0.08 
• Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil & Herbs: $1, SWAG
• marinated artichoke hearts: $5.18
• sliced fresh mushrooms: $1.99 
• butter: $0.14 
• dry white wine: $1.40
• shrimp (medium): $5 
• Parmesan cheese: $1.40

TOTAL: $17.13 or about $4.28 for each of four servings.

Maria Marinated Artichoke Hearts

I thought these marinated artichoke heart quarters would be elusive, something I'd wind up using regular artichokes in place of because I wouldn't want to drive to three different stores.

Ingredients because it's tiny on the jar: artichoke quarters, water, vinegar, vegetable oil (sunflower or soybean), salt, spices, citric and ascorbic acid to preserve the color.

Nope, these little, expensive jars were right there among the cans of hearts.


They better be worth the money. They aren't even in olive oil, which might have justified some of the expense.


Maria artichokes available in the canned vegetable aisle of Stater Bros. for $2.59 a 6.5-oz jar.

Funny, when I tried to go to mariabrand.com like it says on the label, I wind up at Go Daddy.

Thyme-Roasted Spring Vegetables

This recipe was on the Easter pages of the Cooking Club magazine opposite the Passover recipes. These vegetables were supposed to accompany a ham, but I'm going to eat it with chicken.

Thyme-Roasted Spring Vegetables

Cooking Club of America

click to print

2 large artichokes

2 tsp lemon juice
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb. small red new potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
8 oz. thin carrots with 1 inch of tops, halved lengthwise
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 lb. asparagus

Peel artichoke stems. Starting at base of artichokes, peel back, snap off and discard tough outer leaves, leaving tender inner leaves surrounding choke. Halve artichokes through stems. Cut large artichokes into eighths; remove inner choke with spoon. Place in large bowl of water with lemon juice. Click here if you want a visual.

Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; add artichokes.

 

Reduce heat to medium; cook 3 to 7 minutes (depending on size) or until crisp-tender. Drain well. (Artichokes can be prepared to this point 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
 

Heat oven to 425°F. Whisk oil, mustard, thyme, salt and pepper in small bowl.
 

Toss artichokes, potatoes, carrots, shallot, garlic and three-fourths of the oil mixture in large bowl; arrange on rimmed baking sheet.

 

 
Attempting to toss the vegetables in the bowl was much like mixing marbles and railroad ties together -- the carrots didn't cooperate. I finished tossing them after transferring to the baking sheet.

Toss asparagus with remaining oil mixture.

Bake artichoke mixture 25 minutes or until tender, stirring halfway through.
 
These images show that yes, I stirred halfway through.

Remove from oven; stir.
 

Arrange asparagus over vegetables; bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender. (Vegetables can be prepared 3 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat on rimmed baking sheet at 350°F. for 5 to 10 minutes.)

 


Roasted vegetables of any sort are really very good and these are no exception. That they are dressed in a tasty mixture just puts them over the top. The dressing would be perfectly suitable if you were to roast only one type of vegetable or even tossed with salad greens.

The only thing about this recipe, and really, roasting any combination of vegetables, is that you need to get the size ratios right. My potatoes were still quite firm while the carrots and artichokes turned out nearly perfect. The asparagus? You couldn't ask for anything better!

Cost:

• artichokes: $2.98
• lemon: $0.27
• thyme: $0.65
• new potatoes: $2.79
• carrots: $0.99
• shallot: $0.18
• garlic: $0.20
• asparagus: $2.07

TOTAL: $10.13. The magazine says you'll get 12 servings. I got 6 servings, making them $1.69 each.

Artichokes

Artichokes are really intimidating. They're weird looking, are pretty tough and even have needles. Yeah, like poke-you-in-the-eye needles. What the heck are these things?

According to Larousse Gastronomique, an artichoke is a flower bud! Be sure to select those that haven't flowered, or opened, as they are too ripe and, unlike ripened fruits and vegetables, will be hard. Old ones will have black tips on each petal/leaf/scale.

The little barbs, or claws, or really sharp, pokey, needle-like things, are wicked. You might consider a nylon brush to scrub them if simply rinsing isn't your thing.

The stems can be eaten too, just give them a workover with a vegetable peeler or paring knife.

The recipe I bought these for give a brief description on what to do next. I opted to watch Jacques Pepin do his thing first. It's a little lengthy, 8.5 minutes, but the pertinent parts for my recipe are between minutes 1:40 and 2:40. As always, I highly recommend you watch the entire video. Jacque owns his artichokes.

So I went ahead and broke the leaves by bending and pulling down just as Jacque illustrated. It looks like I peeled off the majority of the leaves.

But looking at them from this angle says otherwise.

I should've keep breaking the leaves off until I reached the paler, almost yellow, leaves. The green ones turned out to be pretty tough after cooking and I wound up spitting them out like a real lady during dinner.

Here's a leaf I accidentally pulled from the entire bud. It has a score where I bent it, but that leaf didn't break like it was supposed to.

Per my recipe, the artichokes were halved to reveal the chokes (the hairy purple part) and each half cut into quarters.

With a spoon, I shoveled out the chokes, which was easier than I'd expected.

And then I realized I should cut the tips of the leaves off each piece to avoid eating needles during dinner. They were just lopped off with a chef's knife.

The trimmed chokeless artichoke pieces were placed in a bowl of lemon-water to prevent browning.

When finished, I was surprised by how much waste there is with an artichoke. Half or more of an artichoke is too tough to eat, so don't try to be too frugal. You might end up disappointed with your results.

Artichokes available from Grower's Direct for $1.49 each.