Shrimp Spaghetti, often referred to as shrimp boat spaghetti, because it could easily be made with a scoop out of the day's catch and ingredients easy transported on a shrimp boat. A nice shortcut, tomato based sauce made with shrimp, bell pepper and garlic and tossed with spaghetti noodles.

Shrimp Spaghetti

Because this dish takes shortcuts by using canned or jarred pasta sauce and tomatoes, here in the Deep South it is often referred to as Shrimp Boat Spaghetti, a dish that can easily be made with a scoop out of the day's catch with ingredients that are easily transported on a shrimp boat.

It's a speedy dish that comes together in no time but tastes like it simmered all day, perfect for those long workdays.

As always, I recommend using Wild American shrimp, never foreign imports and if you are near us, preferably Gulf shrimp, when purchasing shrimp.

This recipe has been up on the website for years, and when I recently updated the step by step pictures, I used some of the Gulf shrimp from Last Island, a seafood company out of New Iberia, Louisiana I've discovered more recently. I love having them in my freezer! Important Note: I have no affiliate relationship with Last Island - I'm just sharing a seafood source that I love.

Their shrimp are gorgeous, beautifully clean, fully peeled and deveined and taste amazing. They are also nice and large, about 28 count per pound, and because they don't require any work on my part - they are ready to go for any recipe in minutes. If you're using fresh raw shrimp in the shell, you'll want to peel and devein, rinse and drain well and pat dry with paper towels.

Toss shrimp lightly with Creole or Cajun seasoning to taste depending on how hot you like it, or if you prefer not to have heat, salt and pepper or your favorite all-purpose seasoning. Set aside.

Use whatever sauce you like here. When going the budget route, I prefer the Del Monte traditional version of their canned sauce, because it tastes great and is inexpensive.

There are several varieties available and you will almost always find them on the upper or lower shelves of the grocery store. The reason for that is that they are the least expensive sauces on the shelf. Yep, those clever marketing folks do that on purpose because they know that most shoppers will rarely look up or down, but almost always shop at eye level, so the more expensive, or more heavily advertised sauces will appear on the grocery store shelf at eye level.

Of course you can use your favorite pasta sauce - Rao's, Mancini, Bertolli, whatever you love!

Here's what you'll need to make my Shrimp Spaghetti:

• 1-pound medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped Vidalia or sweet yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chopped medium sweet bell pepper (red or green)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian style stewed tomatoes
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel), undrained
• 1 (24-26 ounce) can or jar of your favorite pasta sauce (like Del Monte, Rao's, Mancini, Bertolli)
• 2 medium bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1 (12-16 ounce) package spaghetti noodles
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried parsley flakes, optional

Chop up some onion and bell pepper.

Add olive oil to a deep skillet, Dutch oven or soup pot and heat to medium. Add chopped onion and bell pepper.

Sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic and cook a minute longer but do not allow garlic to brown or the sauce will have a bitter taste.

Add stewed tomatoes and use a masher to break them up.
 

Add diced tomatoes.

 Simmer on low for 15 minutes.

You'll need 2 bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil and 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning.

Add that and the pasta sauce and let simmer for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add to it 2 to 3 very generous pinches of kosher salt. Add pasta and cook to al dente. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water before draining and set aside. Drain pasta well and set aside. I'm using my Fasta Pasta microwave cooker.

Add shrimp and parsley to sauce.

Stir well and cook just until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Add only enough of the reserved pasta water to sauce as needed, and only if sauce has become too thick. Taste the sauce, adding salt and pepper as needed.

Combine the pasta with several spoons of the sauce and toss well. 

Transfer to platter or plate individual servings of pasta, top with sauce, crack a bit of fresh black pepper over top and garnish with a sprinkle of parsley.

For more of my favorite shrimp recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!



If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

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Posted by Mary on February 17, 2010

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