One of my go to dishes has always been pasta. Generally it is so easy and quick to make that having it as a staple in my diet on a weekly basis is a no brainer. Over time I’ve made many changes to the type of pasta I’ll eat. To be “healthy” I tried spinach pasta, then when I realized I had a sensitivity to gluten I changed to rice pasta. But now that I am eating paleo I have removed all grain based food from my diet. And my beloved pasta was no more…or so I thought! I became inspired to try a vegetable pasta substitute when I saw friends on facebook and blogs trying out different types of squash. I quickly purchased a julienne knife so that I “make” pasta from yellow squash (and I still will) but quickly realized spaghetti squash is a quicker way!
By utilizing spaghetti squash as my “pasta” I am able to enjoy one of my favorite meals, shrimp with pesto sauce. Pesto is also something I truly enjoy but I find it store bought pesto to be both expensive and contain diary which is not part of paleo living. After making my own pesto, I am convinced that not only is mine cheaper to make but it is also tastier!
Pine nuts make pesto tasty
I am traditional and utilize pine nuts in my recipe but you can substitute any nut that you provides the flavor that you are looking for. I plan on doing some experimenting at a later date and trying various types of nuts like walnuts and macadamia nuts in my pesto. And now for the recipe. You won’t believe how simple this is!
Shrimp Pesto and “Pasta”
ingredients:
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 bunch of basil
1 garlic clove
salt (to taste)
1 spaghetti squash
1/2 pound of cleaned shrimp
Method:
Place olive oil, pine nuts, basil and garlic in food processor. Blend until desired consistency is reached. Add salt to taste (I used about 1/4 teaspoon).
Pan fry shrimp over medium heat utilizing a little olive oil spray until pink. Alternatively, you can steam the shrimp by placing an inch of water in a pan, placing shrimp in steamer and steam for about five minutes.
While the shrimp is cooking, cut the squash in half and clean out all seeds and stringy bits. Place in microwave for 8 minutes. Remove when done and scrape out the stringy “spaghetti” place on dish. Top with cooked shrimp and mix in pesto sauce.
This recipe yields approximately four servings.
