Last updated on May 17th, 2018 at 11:22 am
Cajun Shrimp with Tomato Alfredo Pasta – a one pot dish of a simple and delicious tomato Alfredo sauce tossed with your favorite pasta and pan seared cajun shrimp.
Last night I was in the mood for pasta, as it often happens, so flying by the seat of my pants I made up this concoction with diced canned tomatoes which I pureed first, onions and garlic, some heavy cream and Parmesan cheese, of course.
As I’ve said many times before, the best recipes turn out when you throw stuff together that you happen to have in your pantry and hope for the best. Needless to say, I’ve had this calamari pasta, it’s actually pasta shaped like calamari, which I bought at one of my favorite stores in Canmore and have been patiently waiting to make something with it. I actually wanted to make some calamari with it, but as it happened I couldn’t find any fresh calamari so shrimp it was.
I decided to season the shrimp with some cajun seasoning and cook it in a skillet. It’s something I do often with shrimp as I really love cajun spice and find that it’s perfect on shrimp. As far as the tomato Alfredo sauce goes, well it couldn’t get any easier. I used a can of diced tomatoes which I threw in my food processor and pulsed it a few times just until it was smooth enough. While Alfredo sauce is laden with butter and cheese, I only used a couple tablespoons of butter, a small onion and of course a bit of garlic, which I sautéed until fragrant then added the pureed tomatoes and simmered that for a bit. I added a bit of heavy cream to the sauce and some Parmesan cheese and lo and behold the tomato Alfredo was born.
Such a simple sauce but full of flavor. It’s my kind of dish to make on a busy weeknight after work, but fancy enough to have on weekends.
If you love pasta as much as I do, you have to try these recipes!
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- 12 oz dry pasta such as fettuccine
- 12 oz large shrimp uncooked, shells removed
- 1 tbsp cajun seasoning
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 oz Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 3 leaves fresh basil chopped for garnish
- Cook the pasta according to package instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, season the shrimp with the cajun seasoning. In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides until pink, it shouldn't take more than a couple minutes. Remove the shrimp from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and the butter to the skillet and heat until butter melts over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, then cook for about 3 minutes until the onion becomes soft and translucent.
- While the onion is cooking pour the tomatoes in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. Add the tomatoes to the skillet, bring to a boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese to the skillet, and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Add the cooked pasta and shrimp to the skillet and toss everything well together.
- Garnish with fresh basil and more Parmesan cheese if preferred, and serve immediately.
I used a type of pasta that's shaped like calamari. Since that's not super easy to find, you can use any type of pasta that you like.
You can used crushed tomatoes instead of diced.
To cut down on calories you can use half and half or a light cream.
You can use sausage or ground beef if you don't like shrimp.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
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Can I used crushed tomatoes instead of diced or will that mess up the consistency?
I think crushed tomatoes will work just fine.
There are ingredients that are imported by necessity, but are generally perceived as expensive, fussy and snobbish. Add to that how 99% of the time they’re prepared wrong, and the reputation is in tatters.
With this recipe, I finally convinced my 61-year old mother that shrimp is not the root of all evil! In fact, she and I both loved this!
This was wonderful, even though I didn’t have Cajun seasoning (smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, and seasoning salt was a great substitute) the flavor was excellent. This satisfied my tomato cravings. I do have a question; could zucchhini noodles from a spiralizer be a good substitute for the pasta noodles to cut carbs?
Yes, absolute, but I’d make a bit less sauce because pasta soaks up that sauce whereas zucchini noodles won’t really soak up much sauce, but yeah great idea!
Jo, I made this tonight and oh we loved it!!! I loved the amount of spice it had but husband gave it more of a kick with cayenne. He told me this one is a keeper. Thank you so much!!!!!!
Glad you guys liked it Carol!
I am gonna make this dish. What about adding sausage. I don’t like to alter people’s recipes, but the addition of sausage sounds awesome.
Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
Sausage would work great here, some spicy chorizo? 🙂
This recipe looks delicious!! Would it also work with fat free half and half?
Yes, absolutely!