Creamy Shrimp & Mushroom Pasta with a Little Heat

Adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen via Pinterest


Printable Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4  I used Whole grain Barilla Penne and low fat cream cheese to "healthy" it up.


Ingredients: 13oz/375g Barilla Whole Grain Penne ( or your favorite pasta)
  1 tbsp olive oil
  1lb/450g raw shrimp, peeled & deveined 10 tbsp butter ( from a healthy perspective I probably could have done with less, but I followed Chaos in the Kitchen's  -CIK suggestion)
  8oz/225g cremini mushrooms, sliced
  2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
  3oz/85g light cream cheese
  2 tbsp fresh Italian/flat leaf parsley, chopped
  2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
  1/2 cup pasta cooking water
  1-2 pinches of red chili pepper flakes
  Directions:

1. Boil and salt a large pot of water and cook your pasta.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water for the sauce. 
2. While your pasta is cooking:  Heat a large skillet over medium heat and saute the shrimp in 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Once they've turned pink, remove them and set aside.  If your shrimp are frozen, quickly thaw them under running water.
3. In the same skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until soft and brown.  Season with pepper.  Remove from skillet and reserve along with the shrimp.
4. Melt remaining butter in the skillet.  Add garlic, cream cheese, and herbs.  I suggest using a whisk and was grateful that CIK gave these words "At this point, I generally feel like something has gone terribly wrong.  The cream cheese doesn’t really melt and starts to look almost curdled, don’t worry about it!"  It did smooth out beautifully once the water was added.
5. Simmer cream cheese mixture until well blended. Add some of the boiling pasta water stirring quickly to smooth out the sauce.
6. Keep sauce hot and add shrimp and mushrooms, mix well and simmer (stirring often) until everything is hot and thickened, 5-8 minutes
7. Toss sauce with drained, cooked noodles and serve.