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Need to get dinner on the table fast? Shrimp and Chorizo Pasta is ready in less than 30 minutes and it’s full of robust flavors that everyone loves.
What is Chorizo?
Chorizo is a Spanish sausage that is made from pork and pork fat and spiced with garlic, smoked paprika, and other spices. It’s the smoked paprika that gives chorizo its red coloring. It’s a dense sausage like pepperoni or salami and tastes like a spicy version of salami.
What Other Types of Sausage Can I Use?
In this recipe you can use a variety of different types of sausages:
- Mild or spicy Italian sausage
- Cajun andouille sausage
- Cured salami
- Pepperoni
- Kielbasa
- Saucisson
- Bratwurst
What Else Can I Make With Chorizo?
You can substitute almost any dish where you would use sausage for chorizo. Here are a few ideas:
- Loaded Nachos
- Chicken tacos to add another flavor element
- Mixed with scrambled eggs or in a breakfast burrito
- Chorizo and chicken quesadilla
- Stuffed baked potato and chorizo
- Add chorizo to an enchilada
- Baked beans and chorizo
For this recipe, I use Pink Shrimp for two reasons, I love the light pink color and it’s has a little sweeter flavor and it’s a meaty or dense shrimp. In the US, Pink shrimp are usually found in the Florida Keys or on the Gulf Coast of Florida. You can usually buy pink shrimp in most local grocery stores.
Do I Have to Devein Shrimp?
The answer is ABSOLUTELY! You must devein shrimp before you cook it and eat it. Deveining shrimp means removing the digestive tract on the back and underbelly of each shrimp. If you can’t bring yourself to devein shrimp, find someone who will do it for you. I think it’s a tedious job so I always enlist my husband to do the deveining. If that doesn’t work, you can always ask your fishmonger to devein it for you.
Shrimp Serving Sizes
For a dish like this, I usually plan for 1/4 pound per person. I use a pound of shrimp in this recipe which serves 4 people. I used jumbo-sized shrimp which is 21-25 shrimp per pound. Shrimp are sold by the pound with the “count” or number of shrimp in each pound.
Shrimp sizes
- Jumbo – 21-25
- Extra Large – 26 – 30
- Large – 31 – 35
- Medium/Large 36 – 41
- Medium – 36 – 40
If you like this recipe, you might also like some of these:
Shrimp and Chorizo Pasta
Ingredients
- 4-5 chorizo sausages
- 1 lb. jumbo-sized shrimp – I used pink shrimp
- 1/2 box Fettuccini pasta
- 1 TBS canola oil
- 1 cup white wine – I used Pinot Grigio
- 1/2 cup pasta water – do not throw away all of the pasta water after cooking pasta. Save some for the sauce.
- Juice from one lemon
- 2- ounces of salted butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lemon sliced into wedges
- Cilantro for garnish
- Bread for serving
Instructions
- Clean, devein and deshell shrimp but leave the tails on. (You can remove the tails if you like, but the tails hold a lot of flavor that cooks into the sauce.)
- Cook the 1/2 box of pasta per the box directions (do not throw out the pasta water).
- Slice chorizo into 1/2 inch medallions.
- Add canola oil to a large stove-top skillet and heat to medium.
- Add the chorizo and cook on both sides for about 4 minutes per side.
- Remove from the skillet and place them on a plate covered with a paper towel to absorb the oil.
- Wipe some of the excess oil out of the skillet.
- Add the shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes per side until they are opaque in color.
- Remove the shrimp and place them on a plate.
- To the skillet, add the wine, pasta water, lemon juice, and 1 ounce of the butter.
- Cook on high until it boils, then reduce the heat and let it cook down for another 5 minutes.
- Add the pasta and stir it to make sure it soaks up the sauce.
- Add the chorizo and shrimp back to the skillet.
- Add the other ounce of butter and stir.
- When the butter is melted, the pasta is ready to serve
- Garnish with cilantro.
- Serve it with bread or Naan and a lemon wedge.
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