pasta with spicy skrimp & tomato sauce

super quick. super delish. adapted from cook’s country - a mag that is put out by america’s test kitchen. this recipe comes together super fast & you don’t need the skrimp. it’s super good without them. no need for parm cheese either. what? yeah, no need, cheese heads. here’s how;

you'll need:

1½ pounds extra large shrimp, peeled & deveined
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons, finely chopped jarred cherry peppers
2 tablespoons cherry pepper brine
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed thru a garlic press
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cans diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounces each
1 pound pasta - recipe called for penne, i used spaghetti
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped

you'll do:

1. bring water to boil in a large pot.
2. combine shrimp, 2T oil, chopped cherry peppers, cherry pepper brine, ½ t salt & ¼ t pepper in a bowl that is large enough to marinate skrimps in, and set aside.
3. heat 2T olive oil, red pepper flakes in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 1 minute, add garlic for 30 seconds then add tomatoes and simmer until slightly thickened which will take about 8 minutes.
4. add skrimp mixture and simmer covered and stirring occasionally, until skrimp are just cooked through which will take only 3 minutes. do not over cook the skimps!
5. As the sauce simmers, add 3T salt and pasta to boiling water and cool for the least amount of time recommended on pasta package. reserve ½ cup of pasta cooking water. remove pasta and add directly to sauce. turn sauce up to high and let the pasta simmer with the sauce so the pasta will absorb some sauce. add reserved pasta water if needed. season with salt & pepper. serve.

note: when packing away leftovers, add some pasta water. leftovers will be yummy!