Linguini with Shrimp and Lemon Oil - Inspiration from Giada De Laurentiis

I was inspired to make this dish not too long ago while watching Giada De Laurentiis’ show on Cooking Channel, “Everyday Italian”.  As always, she made it look super easy to prepare (which it was) and it looked delicious – so I “pinned” the recipe to make sure I tried it.

When I initially did the grocery shopping, I purchased arugula to use in the dish but then it ended up being almost a week before I actually made it.  At that point, I had already used the arugula in a salad before it spoiled.  It was OK without it – but next time I will definitely make sure I have some.  I made a couple of other modifications here and there based upon what I already had in my kitchen and my version of the recipe is below.  If you'd like to check out the original recipe, you can follow this link.

My entire family loved this!  I hope you will prepare for yours as well!

Linguini with Shrimp and Lemon Oil
Serves 4-6
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

For the Lemon Oil:
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested

For the Pasta:
1 pound linguini pasta (I use whole wheat)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup diced onion
16 ounces frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 lemon, zested
½ cup champagne
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley

For the lemon oil, combine the olive oil and the lemon zest in a small bowl and reserve.

For the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes.  Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy skillet warm the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 5 minutes.  Add the cooked linguini, lemon juice, lemon zest, champagne {carefully!} salt, and pepper.  Toss to combine. 

Using a mesh sieve, strain the lemon zest out of the reserved lemon oil and add the oil to the pasta.  The zest can be discarded.  Add some of the cooking water to desired consistency.  Add the dried parsley to the pasta and toss to combine.  Serve immediately.