A - Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Fire

Another recipe tried for the letter A! Notice how I didn't just call it Spicy Angel Hair pasta with Shrimp? I added the "Fire" so the recipe could start with the letter 'A' in case I got called out on a technicality.

Anyway, I was inspired by Giada de Laurentis' Fiery Angel Hair Pasta recipe, which I used as my guide with a few tweaks. I did follow her Chili Oil recipe for this pasta to a T, which was really simple!

The Ingredients
* 1 pound angel hair pasta
* 1/2 cup Chili Oil
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves (or 1/4 dried parsley flakes)
* 1 lemon, juiced
* Coarse sea salt
* Dried crushed red pepper flakes

In her original recipe, she uses lemon peel and lemon zest. Honestly, I don't know what the difference is, but I opted not to use either. Also, I added half a medium onion and a can of diced tomatoes and 1/4 pound of shrimp.

First I started off making the Chili Oil. All you need is 2 cups of olive oil and 4 teaspoons of dried red pepper flakes. In my case, I used extra virgin olive oil, because I have a huge costco bottle that is expiring in May... Also, you'll noticed I used packets of red pepper flakes that you get from pizza places... I'm so asian.

I think each packet yielded about 3/4 tsp, so I used 5 packets haha



I put the oil and red pepper flakes in a small pot and put it on low heat.



Its done once the temperature gets to 180 degrees F. Let it cool for about 2 hours before putting it in a container.



I made the oil yesterday, so today I was able to start on the rest of the pasta. I boiled a pot of water and added lots of salt and about 2 Tablespoons of EVOO. Once it was boiling, I added the angel hair pasta. I cooked it for about 6 minutes until it was al dente and drained it.



While the pasta was going, I cut half an onion. I was going to add the whole thing but omg it was so potent! My eyes were burning like pee so I only cut one half.



I put a little bit of the chili oil in a pan and cooked the onions on low to medium heat.



I used a can of diced and peeled tomatoes (lazy to pick tomatoes and cut them myself). I tried to get out as much liquid as I could, but I figured, any excess water would be ok since I was going to toss it in with the pasta anyway. I added the tomatoes to my onions and added 1/4 cup of dried parsley flakes. The recipe calls for fresh parsley, but all I had were dried.



Once the onions, tomatoes, and parsley were mixed well, I added shrimp. I just bought a package of little shrimps that were already peeled and deveined, I think it was less than $3 worth.





Once my onion, tomato, shrimp, and parsley mixture was combined and cooked through, I put 1/2 cup of the chili oil I created earlier into a large bowl and squeezed the juice of 1 lemon in.



I dumped my noodles in and topped it with the onion/shrimp mixture.



I used a spoon and fork and mixed everything in the bowl together. It took me a while because I think I should have used a bigger bowl. I had to toss quite a few times to get all the noodles covered. Then, I added some sea salt and dried red pepper flakes. I like things spicy, so I added more red pepper flakes to my taste.



Once everything tasted good, I plated some for myself and topped with grated parmesan cheese. Ta Da!!!



I was really pleasantly surprised! I like the heat that comes through with a little hint of the lemon-y citrus. It was full of flavor, and I think it was a good call to add the tomatoes and onion.

If I were to make this recipe again, I would suggest using the whole onion and using more shrimp (maybe 1/2 pound - 3/4 pounds). I like more filling in my pastas than noodles typically. I don't think I realized how much pasta the 1lb box would yield. However, if this was made as more of a side dish, I think it would be ok.

The recipe can feed A LOT! I ate a big bowl and Lisa had some as well, but I have a giant bowl of it left! I think I'll plan on serving it tomorrow as a pasta side dish for the superbowl party.