Healthy 20 Minute Dinner - Garlic Shrimp with Zucchini Pasta
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
At the end of the garlic shrimp recipe I posted earlier this week, I mentioned that it would be delicious with my garlic zucchini pasta. In this post, I'm going to walk you through the quickest way to make this combo so you can put a healthy, delicious meal on the table in less time than it would take you to get take out. As an added bonus, this meal only requires one pot for cooking, which means quick clean up, too!
This meal has all of the nutritional value mentioned in the garlic shrimp post, but in addition to vitamins, minerals and fiber, the zucchini pasta adds a good amount of lutein and zeaxanthin, two potent antioxidants. It's important to note that these antioxidants are concentrated in the skin of the zucchini, as is true with many vegetables and fruit. Since antioxidants are concentrated in the skin, I think it's wise to keep the skin on your produce and reduce your exposure to pesticides by purchasing organic instead. The same is true for zucchini - purchase organic or grow it yourself whenever you can.
Thankfully, spiral slicing the zucchini for this recipe is easy with the Spiralife Vegetable Spiralizer. I talked about it and compared it to the Vegetti spiral slicer in my post on garlic zucchini pasta. I thought the Spiralife did a better job of spiral slicing zucchini than the Vegetti, and it came with a cleaning brush and storage bag, all for $14. It gets a lot of use in my house and has become one of my favorite kitchen gadgets!
You have a couple of options to cater this meal to your tastes. The first is the option to add a pinch of red pepper flakes to the shrimp if you are cooking this dish for someone that enjoys spicy food. I leave it out when I'm cooking this meal for my kids or for someone who doesn't care for spicy foods, but I sure enjoy it with the pinch of red pepper flakes. I also think it looks prettier with the red pepper flakes!
The second option you have with this meal is serving it with gluten-free garlic toast. It's a great addition if you have family members with big appetites or larger carbohydrate requirements, or if it just sounds good! The flavor and texture of toast compliments this meal perfectly. But even without it, this is a delicious low-carb and low-glycemic meal that is nutritious, gluten-free, grain-free, and Primal.
The garlic shrimp recipe and directions are repeated below to make preparing this meal as easy as possible. I hope you enjoy it!
Garlic Shrimp with Zucchini Pasta (Zasta)
Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the garlic shrimp:
- 1 lb of 21-25 shrimp, raw, peeled and tail on
- 5 large cloves of garlic, 2 sliced thinly and 3 minced
- 2 Tbsp of ghee or butter
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt, or to taste
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 medium zucchini, spiral sliced
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp of ghee or butter
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt, or to taste
Directions
Rinse the shrimp under cold water while removing the tails. Pat the shrimp dry and sprinkle lightly with salt. Add the minced garlic and 1 Tbsp of olive oil (and red pepper flakes, if desired). Toss and set aside.
Heat a pan over medium-low heat. Add the ghee or butter and remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil. When the ghee and oil are hot, add the sliced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the shrimp and cook about 1-2 minutes on each side. Once the shrimp has turned pink and is no longer translucent, sprinkle it with salt one more time, give it a quick toss and then remove from heat. Be sure to remove all of the garlic, ghee/butter and oil from the pan to serve with the shrimp. It makes a delicious and essential sauce!
For the zucchini pasta:
Return the pan you used to cook the shrimp to the burner. Add 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil to the pan. When the
butter is melted and oil warm, add the spiral sliced zucchini. Immediately add
the minced garlic and salt and toss. Cook for 1-2 minutes while tossing,
until the zucchini pasta is warm.
Serve in a bowl with the zucchini on bottom and shrimp on top. Pour any remaining garlic and butter / oil over the dish and salt to taste, if needed.
Serve in a bowl with the zucchini on bottom and shrimp on top. Pour any remaining garlic and butter / oil over the dish and salt to taste, if needed.
Sources:
World's Healthiest Foods: Squash, Summer. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=62
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