Tonight we made a new recipe. The original recipe is from the Food Network by Geoffrey Zakarian. I have included my slimmed down recipe for 2 servings below the picture.

Our spaghetti dish turned out super-good. We used whole grain spaghetti, cut down on the oil, and the amount of pancetta. The only difficult part of this recipe is getting the timing right. You want to put the cooked pasta into the vegetable/shrimp/pancetta mixture when the shrimp is not quite cooked. I was glad I had John to wrangle the pasta while I made the sauce.

It is fun to try something new rather than always rely on the same-old same-old. Since Wednesday is my slot for pasta, I can easily add this to my rotation. And by slimming down the recipe, I can totally eat this without any guilt at all!

Spaghetti with pancetta, shrimp, and Fresno chiles. Serves 2

For the pasta pot:

Kosher salt

6 oz. whole grain spaghetti (or whatever you prefer)

For the sauce

Olive oil spray

2 ounces pancetta, cut in small to medium dice

¼ cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 

Dash of red pepper flakes 

1 Fresno chile, seeds removed sliced thinly in half moons

12 large shrimp, sliced lengthwise

Zest of 1 lemon 

2 tsp olive oil

Garnish

1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan

1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When you have finished saute-ing the vegetables in the next step, put your pasta in and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water

Spray with olive oil spray a skillet or Dutch oven and place over medium to low heat. Cook the pancetta to render the fat and crisp it, Remove the pancetta from the pan when crisp but leave the fat in the pan. Turn up the heat to medium and saute the onion, followed by the garlic, Fresno chile, and red pepper flakes. Be sure to not let garlic burn.

When your pasta is almost done add the shrimp to the vegetables and put the lemon zest and cooked pancetta in the pan. Cook the shrimp until it is slightly undercooked.

Drain the pasta reserving 1 cup of pasta water and put put the pasta directly into your saute-ing pan. Stir everything together. Add the two teaspoons of olive oil and enough of the pasta water to make a little sauce.

Garnish the plates with the torn up basil and the grated cheese (if desired.)