Calabrian shrimp and orzo
The shrimp sit in garlic, capers and chile while the pasta boils. That is the whole method.
At a Glance
Story
Toss the garlic onto the shrimp rather than into the pan. Chopped garlic dropped into oil hot enough to sear shrimp is bitter in about forty seconds, and there is no recovering it. Sitting on the shrimp it is shielded by all that surface moisture, so it cooks through gently in the same two minutes and arrives sweet.
Ingredients
- 10 oz shrimppeeled and deveined
- 4 oz orzo
- 4 oz grape tomatoeshalved
- 2 cloves garlicroughly chopped
- 1 tbsp capers
- 1 ½ tsp Calabrian chile paste
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- ¼ cup Romanograted
- 1 lemonquartered and deseeded
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
Everything happens in the time the orzo takes, so get the water on before you do anything else.
- Medium pot of salted water on to boil.
- Pat the shrimp dry and put them in a bowl with the garlic, capers and as much of the chile paste as you want. Olive oil, salt, pepper, stir.
- Orzo into the water, 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain and return it to the pot.
- Meanwhile, a drizzle of oil in a medium pan over medium-high. The shrimp in one layer, undisturbed, 2 to 3 minutes, until they turn from grey to opaque at the edges. Tomatoes in, then 1 to 2 minutes more, stirring, until the shrimp are through and the tomatoes have slumped.
- Tip the pan into the orzo with the crème fraîche and the juice of two lemon wedges. Stir hard, taste, season.
- Romano over the top and the last lemon wedges alongside.
Undisturbed for the first two minutes is not a suggestion. Shrimp pushed around a pan give up their water and then boil in it.
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