Would you believe me if I said it takes longer to say “sun-dried tomato and chilli spaghetti with shrimp and arugula” than it does to actually cook it? OK, it doesn’t, but you get my point. This light seafood spaghetti combines sweet sun-dried tomatoes, plump pink shrimp, a hint of chilli, and a pleasant thread of peppery arugula. It’s both impressive and easy to achieve.
This sun-dried tomato pasta recipe is dairy-free and low-cal. If you prefer your pasta with lashings of cream, Marry Me Shrimp pasta is the more decadent relative. The sauce shares these ingredients and adds tangy Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and white wine. I do!
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Spaghetti and shrimp recipe
The sauce for this shrimp spaghetti is simple and delicate. It contains garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato purée, chilli flakes and pasta water. Nothing more. It is not thick with cream or cheese, or fluid with passata. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and the pasta shape is chosen to best suit that.
Italians, who do not pair dairy with seafood, and use tomato sparingly with it, opt for long flat pasta shapes like spaghetti or linguine. These, with a greater surface area, efficiently absorb the fragrant and fluid sauce, seeping deep into the pasta so every mouthful is evenly flavoured.
What’s more, strand-like pasta entraps seafood; shrimp, clams, lobster tails, making them easily captured and twirled around a fork.
The sauce may be delicate, but I don’t mean it’s without impact! A balance of sweet sun-dried tomatoes and warm red chilli flakes match up to briny prawns creating a satiating seafood pasta dish not far from a (trickier) traditional scialatiella allo scoglio.
Recipe tips and notes
- Always salt your boiling water generously. It will reach every strand of pasta, stop it sticking together, and infuse the water (which is needed later).
- Pasta should be al dente. That means ‘a bit chewy’ in Italian, if you didn’t already know. I cook it for minus 1 minute per packet instructions.
- That starchy pasta water? It’s part of the recipe. The salt and starch make the water thicker and flavoursome which is integral to the sauce. Infinitely better than just plain boiled water. I reserve about a mugful before draining.
- Sun-dried tomatoes are the key ingredient here. Choose the best quality you can afford.
- What’s more, the oil they are packed in is useable as it’s steeped in rich tomato flavour. I use it in place of olive oil to sauté garlic, onions, chicken.
- Fry the garlic over a low heat so as not to burn it. Burnt garlic is bitter and will ruin the balance of the dish.
- If the dish tastes a little bland, season with more salt. Taste. Salt. Taste again. Then add any other seasonings. Salt is a natural flavour enhancer and will coax all the flavours out.
Serving suggestions
This dish has all the elements of a complete meal: shrimp for protein, arugula for greenery, pasta for carbs. However, if you know me and my family, a pasta dish is never far from garlic bread. This no-knead focaccia is studded with garlic cloves, or to keep things quick and cheesy, stick with air fryer garlic bread.
And while that jar of sun-dried tomatoes is open put it to good use with a side of Parmesan roasted broccoli.
Storage and leftovers
Neither spaghetti not shrimp should be stored and saved. There’s really little to revive a cold prawn or day-old spaghetti. My advice? Get it while it’s hot!
More pasta recipes to try
- Chicken Tortellini Alfredo
- Pasta with Smoked Salmon
- Spicy Sausage Pasta with Ricotta
- Seafood Lasagna with Crab, Shrimp and Calamari
Sun-Dried Tomato and Chilli Spaghetti with Shrimp and Arugula
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.frying pan
- This is an affiliate link.Large pot
- This is an affiliate link.Colander
Ingredients
- ½ kg / 1 lbs raw shrimp (prawns)
- 2 tbsp This is an affiliate link.olive oil divided
- 300g / 5 oz This is an affiliate link.spaghetti
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
- 2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 4 tbsp This is an affiliate link.sun dried tomatoes chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 60g / 3 cups arugula (rocket)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package instructions.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, then add the shrimp seasoned with salt, cook for a couple of minutes until pink. Remove to a separate plate and keep warm.
- To the same pan add another tablespoon of olive oil and sauté sliced garlic and sun-dried tomatoes with red chilli flakes over very low heat for 1 minute, then add ½ cup of pasta water (scoop it directly from the pot with spaghetti) and 1 tbsp tomato paste and bring the sauce to a simmer, then add the arugula, stir and let it wilt for half a minute, then a take off the heat.
- Drain the cooked spaghetti. Add the spaghetti to the pan with sun-dried tomatoes, bring the cooked shrimp back to the pan and toss until pasta and the shrimp are coated with the sauce. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Always salt your boiling water generously. It will reach every strand of pasta, stop it sticking together, and infuse the water (which is needed later).
- Pasta should be al dente. I cook it for minus 1 minute per packet instructions.
- That starchy pasta water? It’s part of the recipe. The salt and starch make the water thicker and flavoursome which is integral to the sauce. I reserve about a mugful before draining.
- Sun-dried tomatoes are the key ingredient here. Choose the best quality you can afford.
- What’s more, the oil they are packed in is useable as it’s steeped in rich tomato flavour. I use it in place of olive oil to sauté garlic, onions, chicken.
- Fry the garlic over a low heat so as not to burn it. Burnt garlic is bitter and will ruin the balance of the dish.
- If the dish tastes a little bland, season with more salt. Taste. Salt. Taste again. Then add any other seasonings. Salt is a natural flavour enhancer and will coax all the flavours out.
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