A Little Kick To Your Palate

Down here in our little neck of the woods we love our seafood.  I'm not speaking for everyone in this region...just our little family.  And by little family I mean me & Mr. Spouse.  Oh...and my youngest.  We tried to get our youngest to try shrimp about a year ago and he wasn't a huge fan.  My older one gagged at the sight so we didn't push it.  A few months ago my husband tricked our youngest into eating fried fish by telling him it was venison (he LOVES venison).  He ate a few filets with much delight before  Mr. Spouse dropped the bombshell and he excitedly exclaimed, "GET OUTTA HERE!!!  You mean I love fish, too?!?!?!"  Hahahaha.  

I'm always on the hunt for new seafood recipes to incorporate into our weekly menu. Fish, shrimp, crabs, oysters, scallops...you name it and I want to cook it.  Or at least I want to attempt to try :)  Seafood is easy enough to broil/bake/grill/sear/fry, but I love to switch things up and incorporate it into recipes.  This week Mr. Spouse requested shrimp and scallops and I originally intended to sear the scallops in bacon grease and roast the shrimp.  Well..I wasn't feelin' it and I ended up finding a recipe I wanted to tweak that I figured would satisfy my palate a little bit more.  And it did.  OHMIWORD...outta the ballpark delicious!!!

SPICY SHRIMP & SCALLOPS OVER BUTTERED NOODLES

1/2 lb. angel hair pasta, cooked

4 TBSP. butter

2 TBSP. olive oil, divided

2 TBSP. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/2 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 lb. sea or bay scallops

1/2 tsp. paprika

4 TBSP. chicken broth

1 large lime, divided

1/2 C. cilantro, chopped

Avocado, chopped (optional)

Salt & Pepper, to taste

Before you get started, season the scallops and shrimp with salt and pepper, to taste.  I just placed mine in a large ziplock baggie, poured in a few dashes of salt and pepper, and tossed to coat.  Let that set aside until it's time to bring 'em back in.  ALSO...cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, and return to pot.  

Add 1 TBSP. of olive oil to a large pan over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, add in the garlic. Stir to coat and cook  over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes or until garlic starts to lightly brown. 

Now remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside.  

Add the other tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and when it's heated toss in the crushed red pepper, scallops, shrimp, and paprika.  Stir to coat.

Now toss the garlic back into the pan and stir until blended.

Cook over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes and then add in the chicken broth.  

By this time you should see your shrimp starting to get pink and you will notice that your scallops are becoming more translucent (in the middle)...they're almost ready!!!

Cook for about 2-3 additional minutes on medium heat or until shrimp and scallops are cooked through.

Reduce heat and remove the shrimp and scallops with a slotted spoon leaving the liquid in the pan.  Set aside. I placed mine in a bowl and kept them in the microwave (the microwave was off!) until I needed them again.  Does that really help to keep them warm?!  I don't know, but it made me feel like it did :)  

Now cut a lime in half and squeeze half of the lime juice into the pan with the remaining liquid.  

Chop the cilantro and add that to the remaining liquid as well. Stir to combine and cook over low heat.  

You can add salt and pepper to taste as well (if you so desire).

Take the other half of the lime and squeeze it over the shrimp and scallops and mix to evenly coat. 

In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the cooked pasta to the pan.  Stir to coat noodles in butter.  This will lightly add a bit more flavor to the dish so I would definitely recommend not skipping this little step :)  Remove from heat once coated and set aside.

Now grab a bowl and serve yourself a small bed of noodles.  Remember this isn't a pasta dish so you don't want to be too generous with this serving...the shrimp and scallops are the star of this show!

Pour a generous serving of the shrimp and scallops over the buttered noodles  and top with the chicken broth/cilantro/lime juice leftover in the pan, and sprinkle some chopped avocado on top of that.

YUM!!!!!

Truly a very unexpected delicious dish!  

There won't be a ton of liquid leftover in the pan.  Of course, you can always double the recipe to give you more, but we found that even the small amount we had was plenty.  You can always eat this without the noodles, but we personally loved the added texture to the dish.  

This little recipe definitely brought the heat, so if you aren't a fan of spice, reduce the amount of crushed red pepper or leave it out altogether.  We are HUGE fans of spicy food so this was right up our alley.  It wasn't overpowering by any means, but it did add a nice little kick to the dish.  Mr. Spouse absolutely LOVED it and that says a lot because he's not afraid to tell me when I miss the mark :)  Bless. I'm really working on portion control at the moment, but if I weren't I would've devoured the leftovers in a heartbeat.  Flavor explosion!!!

This will definitely be coming back into the rotation soon. It was light, but really filling at the same time.  I love the meals that leave you feeling satisfied, but not miserably full.  My kind of meal!