Creamy Garlic Shrimp Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 lb large raw clean and deveined shrimp with tail on
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 3 tsps all purpose flour
• 5 large garlic cloves minced (I like garlic so you can add more or use less depending on taste)
• 1 cup of spinach leaves
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup fresh Romano or Parmesan cheese
• Parsley finely chopped handful 
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Nutmeg (a pinch or two)
• 1 box of angel hair pasta (penne, linguini, spaghetti, and fettucini also work well

Preparation

1. Boil water and cook your pasta au dente.  Set it aside
2. On a large hot pan melt the butter and cook the garlic till translucent.  Don't brown it
3. Remove the pan from the heat and while stirring add the flour creating a rue 
4. Return the pan to the heat and add the white wine.  Let it reduce.  About 2 minutes.  The sauce will look thick but it will thin out later
5. Season the shrimps with salt then add them to the sauce along with the spinach
6. Season the sauce with more salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.  I like my food with a kick so be careful not to add too much if you like it mild.  Cook for about 3 minutes or until the shrimp starts to turn pink
7. Reduce heat to medium and add the heavy cream and the cheese.  The sauce's consistency and color should change.  
8. Cook for another 2 minutes mixing and tasting for seasoning.  Add a couple of pinches of nutmeg for a special kick and about a handful of the chopped parsley
9. Add pasta to the pan and mix with the sauce.  Sometimes I leave the sauce on the side and ladle it on each individual plate of pasta.  For this meal I mixed it all together

Experience

We arrived home really hungry this Sunday morning.  We had planned on not eating out so I knew I had to cook fast.  This dish is extremely easy and quite fast to prepare.  I took 30 minutes to prepare it including cleaning the shrimp.  Don't be afraid to season everything.  Cream sauces need garlic and salt! I might have put too much fresh black pepper and will reduce it next time.  Otherwise I couldn't have enough of it!  Two huge plates!  If you like you pasta more on the wet soupy sauce side then use this amount for about 3/4 of the box.  If you like it just right then the amount of sauce is perfect!  I want to try it with penne next time.  Enjoy it and make it today for your family!  Thank you for sharing my blog with your online friends! 

NOTE:  You can make this with chicken breasts also!  Just sear the breasts first and set them on the side.  Chop them up and return them to the pan before step 7!