The Em Dish: Pasta with Shrimp, Artichokes and Feta

Pasta with Shrimp, Arti­chokes and Feta

Ingre­di­ents:

• 8 ounces pasta (fet­tuc­cine, spaghetti or angel hair)
• 4–6 table­spoons olive oil
• 5 gar­lic cloves, minced
• 1/2 table­spoon lemon zest and some more for garnish
• 1 lemon, divided into two halves
• 1 large tomato, diced or 1/4 cup sun dried tomato in oil, with a few tea­spoons of the oil, or 1 cup grape toma­toes cut in half
• 1/4 cup mar­i­nated, crum­bled feta cheese
• 15–20 uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 5–10 arti­choke hearts, in oil (more or less as per your needs)
• red crushed pepper
• salt and pepper

Direc­tions:

1. Sprin­kle salt and pep­per and squeeze half of the lemon on the shrimp, and set them aside for about 15 minutes.
2. Cook pasta in large pot of salted boil­ing water with one tea­spoon of oil, until ten­der but still firm to bite — al dente. Drain. Save some of the cook­ing liq­uid. Trans­fer pasta to bowl and set aside.
3. Add olive oil in skil­let over medium heat. Add minced gar­lic and some crushed pep­per and let the oil heat up. Saute the gar­lic and pep­per until the gar­lic soft­ens, but do not brown them – for about a minute.
4. Add the mar­i­nated shrimp and saute for a cou­ple of minutes.
5. Add toma­toes and cook for a few min­utes until they release their juice and soften.
6. Add the arti­choke hearts, the rest of the lemon juice and lemon zest. Add salt and pep­per to taste.
7. Cook until shrimp is just cooked through and turns opaque.
8. Add the pasta to the pan. Toss cooked shrimp, arti­chokes and tomato mix with the pasta. Let the mix coat the pasta well, and then switch off the heat. If the dish feels too dry, add some of the reserved cook­ing liq­uid from boil­ing the pasta.
9. Add the mar­i­nated crum­bled feta to the warm pasta and toss.
10. Driz­zle more olive oil, crushed pep­per and zest if you wish.
11. Serve warm.