Tapenade and Shrimp
Last night I made a recipe that is now going to be a new favorite family recipe. I had no plans to write this recipe down or take pictures. Because of this, I have one picture on a paper plate that I took right after my first bite. Remembering exactly what I did and the amounts of ingredients I threw in took a bit of thinking. Because there were so few ingredients, I was able to reconstruct it, and I now have the recipe written down. Luckily for my family and the world, Tapenade and Shrimp tossed with pasta has been recorded in the annals of history.
My true intention was to use up a jar of tapenade that had been in my cupboard for over a year. It happened to be a jar of Trader Joe’s olive tapenade. Since we haven’t been in a Trader Joe’s since about the end of February 2020 and Trader Joe’s doesn’t deliver, I knew it was at least a year old. Usually I buy a couple jars at once. I knew I had opened the other and eaten it as usual on crackers or crusty bread this past summer. Since quarantine began, I’ve been trying to think of ways to turn my very substantial pantry into dinners for four. With this in mind, I concocted Tapenade and Shrimp tossed with pasta.
I had a mental plan for this recipe but about 30 minutes before I began cooking I googled similar recipes. I just wanted to know if what I had in my head was going to work. There was lemon juice in one recipe I found, and I thought that was exactly what I needed to balance out what was going on in my head. It was ridiculously easy except for draining the pasta. I got help with that, but I could have cooked the pasta in the microwave or Instant Pot if I had to. In place of pasta, the mixture would have been really great on rice or crusty bread. Any brand jar of tapenade that is between 8-10 ounces would work. Someone mentioned that this would be a good special occasion recipe. I just nodded, soaked in the glory, and pretended my Tapenade and Shrimp recipe was complex.
Tapenade and Shrimp
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons Butter (can use 3 Tablespoons if conscious of fats)
- 6 cloves Garlic pressed or minced
- 1.5 lbs Shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 9.5 jar Olive Tapenade (or any jar of about 8-12 oz.)
- Juice of 1/2 small Lemon about 1.5 – 2 Tablespoons
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
Serve
- Over Rice OR on Crusty Bread OR tossed with 1 lb. pasta (I used thin linguini).
Instructions
- In a large saute or fry pan, melt 6 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When butter is just starting to get hot add garlic. Saute garlic for 30 seconds, stirring often taking care not to brown garlic.
- Add shrimp in a single layer. Cook for about two minutes per side using tongs to flip them. When the shrimp are just cooked though, add the entire jar of tapenade and the lemon juice. Stir and let tapenade heat through for about a minute.
- Add the Parmesan cheese, stir and let heat through for another 2 minutes.
- Either toss with a pound of hot cooked pasta OR serve over rice OR with crusty bread.