Menu Idea Monday

If you're like me, you know the experience of going out to eat, looking at the menu and thinking "I could totally make all of this at home!"

Today's recipe is exactly that kind of dish - Butter and Garlic Shrimp Penne from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. (As always, the picture is from the original site, not mine.)

Opinion: 

This smelled fantastic while it was cooking and came together pretty easily. It called for a couple ingredients I don't always keep around, but nothing weird or hard to stock if you decide you love it and want to make it often. It was decidedly company-worthy and satisfying.

My Modifications:

Although I made it as instructed, there are a couple things I'll do differently next time.

(1) Use more roux - I needed at least twice as much flour as was called for to thicken the amount of sauce I ended up with. Not a big deal, but worth knowing ahead of time.


(2) Don't cook the pasta until everything else is almost done.


(3) I used pre-cooked shrimp, and since I pulled it straight out of the freezer I ended up with extra water in the sauce as it thawed and started to cook. Next time I'll pre-thaw it.


Dietary Mod Friendly?

This gets high marks for adaptability; gluten free pasta and cornstarch roux instead of flour and you've got a yummy, impressive GF dish. There's not much else in here to spark dietary concerns, so dig in!