Saturday, March 26, 2011

Pesto Shrimp Pasta Toss


This is a recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook that my mom has.  It's light, healthy, and refreshing.  It's great dish for a warm spring or summer evening.

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients:
*13 oz. uncooked whole grain linguine
*2 lbs. frozen deveined, peeled shrimp (thawed)
*1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed*, and cut into 2-inch pieces
*1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced
*1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise
*1 Tablespoon low-fat margarine, melted
*1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
*1/4 teaspoon salt + a dash
*1/2 cup prepared pesto (I use jar pesto from the grocery store)
*1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
*cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450.  Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.  Combine asparagus, carrots, and squash in the casserole dish.  Drizzle with margarine.  Toss to coat.  Sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Toss to coat.  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring twice.

Towards the last half of the vegetable cooking time, cook the linguine according to the package directions, adding the dash of salt to the boiling water.  Add the shrimp during the last minute to minute and a half.  Drain the linguine and shrimp and transfer to a large serving bowl or back to the empty pot.

Add the vegetables and pesto to the pasta.  Toss gently.  Add the Parmesan cheese, and toss gently.

*Note:  To trim asparagus, bend 1 asparagus until it snaps in two.  Throw away the bottom, thick part that snaps off.  Line the snapped asparagus next to the rest of the asparagus, and using the snapped one as a template, cut the rest of the asparagus bottoms off.