First Arugula!

I love this pungent leafy green!  It's peppery and crunchy and adds a wonderful element of flavor to most anything...salads, pasta dishes, soups.  Another reason I love it is because it's ready to pick about three weeks after sowing!  This green does best in cooler weather.  It's not suited to our hot Texas summers; but it does great in the spring and fall. 

 

So I'm thinking, what do I want to do with this first bunch?  Since having my vegetable garden, my method of deciding what to cook goes like this:  It's not what do I want, it's what do I have?  Using that mantra in deciding what to do with the arugula, I looked in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer and this is what I had:

A beautiful bunch of freshly picked arugula 

A pound of peeled, deveined shrimp

1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes

1/2 box of penne pasta

2 lemons from my tree which I zested and juiced

A couple of spring green onions from my garden...yay!

And basic pantry staples...fresh parsley, half and half, garlic and good extra virgin olive oil.

This is what I did with these simple ingredients:

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and reserve a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.  Toss the pasta with a little extra virgin olive oil and set aside.

Marinate the shrimp in a little extra virgin olive oil (about 1/4 cup), the lemon zest and juice, two cloves of minced garlic, a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper for no longer than 30 minutes.

Saute the green onion in a little extra virgin olive oil until soft, a couple of minutes.

Add the shrimp and saute just until pink, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the tomatoes and saute a couple of minutes.

Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, a little half and half (about 1/4 cup), and simmer for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. 

 Add the shrimp and parsley and stir to combine. 

 

Add the cleaned, stemmed arugula and simmer until arugula is soft and shrimp has finished cooking, about 3-5 minutes...not very long.

Taste for seasoning, plate and serve!  This whole dish came together (excluding marinating time) in less than 30 minutes and I have to tell you...It.Was.Delicious! 

I simply love cooking this way...not what do I want, but what do I have...out of my little Texas garden!

Buon Appetito :)