So this shrimp rotini recipe does actually have a short story to it, but not everyone wants a story with their recipes so you can click here to jump straight to the recipe.
The Story
The story behind this recipe is that I couldn’t remember a recipe my sister-in-law taught me 20+ years ago for a similar dish. We hadn’t had it in many years for various reasons and I realized not too long ago I was hungry for a dish like this, but the rough part was my sister-in-law is unfortunately no longer with us (Barbara is deeply and dearly missed for a great many reasons, mainly involving her generous, loving heart and her wisdom and humor). So I couldn’t ask her to refresh my memory, but I had a pretty good idea of what it entailed, and a good sense of what flavors and seasonings work well together with the ingredients I wanted to use. I did some poking around similar shrimp rotini recipes and decided to wing it and see what came of it. This recipe is the result.
Garlic!
I will say here (and you can see this reflected in most of my recipes), I am a BIG fan of using a lot of seasonings. I especially love garlic and have learned from my experiences with other recipes I’ve found that whatever amount of garlic it calls for, I can double it and it will be garlicky enough for me. Fortunately I’m married to a man who loves garlic as much as I do. I even put garlic salt on my popcorn! So as a caveat, if you prefer a lighter hand on the garlic you can reduce the amount of garlic used in this recipe. It’s fairly garlicky as written (which happens to work well with shrimp and butter).
I’m tempted to try this recipe except using chicken cubes sauteed in Grillmates Mojito Lime marinade. I’ll have to see – using chicken in the enchilada casserole didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped. It was blander than I like. It should work better with pasta.
(Note: At this time I do not use affiliate links so if I mention a product it’s because I use that product and do not get any commission for doing so. If that ever changes, I’ll be transparent about it).
Ingredients
- 12-oz box uncooked rotini pasta
- 3 cups fresh broccoli florets chopped up to bite-size (can be prepackaged but don’t use frozen, it’ll come out mushy)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 lbs peeled and de-veined large shrimp (I also removed the tails but that’s optional)
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder OR 3-4 cloves garlic, minced (note: I like a LOT of garlic, you can adjust to suit your taste)
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
In a large pot (like a soup pot), cook the rotini pasta as directed on the box. During the last 3 or 4 minutes of the cook time, add the broccoli. When it’s done, drain the water and return the pasta and broccoli to the pot; set aside.
In a large skillet add the olive oil and swirl to coat. Over medium-high heat, add the shrimp to the pan and saute for a couple minutes just until the shrimp barely turns pink (should only take a couple minutes).
Add the lemon rind, lemon juice, and the seasonings to the shrimp and continue to saute until the butter is melted and the shrimp is well coated with all the seasonings.
Turn the heat off and swap the pot with the pasta back onto the burner. Add the shrimp saute into the pot of pasta and broccoli, and stir well to make sure everything is well mixed and evenly coated. You can do this using just the residual heat from the burner.
Remove from heat and serve. This recipe makes a fairly large amount of food, and it works really well topped with Parmesan sprinkle cheese (or fresh-grated Parm if you’re feeling ambitious). It also reheats very well if you have leftovers.