Fagan Eats Paleo Recipe: Lemon Butter Shrimp with Paleo Pesto "Sauce" and Spaghetti Squash

I just love it when recipes just sort of write themselves.  And that's pretty much what happened with this recipe.  It looks pretty luxurious folks, but really, this dish is so simple to make.  
So, you know how they say "necessity is the mother of invention?"  Yeah.  That's exactly how this dish came to be.  I was working from home one day.  I was hungry.  But I was also feeling kinda picky about what I wanted to eat.  I wasn't craving just any old lunch.  No.  You see, I really wanted something special, not the same old, same old.  I wanted to treat myself, within the confines of Paleo however.  The challenge:  Create a decadent lunch with only what you have in your fridge.  Okay.  Challenge accepted.

So--what did I have in my fridge?  You see, I have started changing the way I do my cook-ups.  I do a little bit of cooking every day, rather than a big cook up over the weekend.  I so prefer this method to blocking out at least a half day of every weekend.  It was starting to be a drag.  

Anyway--back to what I had in my fridge.  I had lots of cauliflower puree, because I make some variation of that almost weekly--that and spaghetti squash.  And some pesto. I like to make pestos with whatever leftover herbs or spinach and arugula I may have.  Then, I cover it in oil and freeze it.  Pesto freezes very well, by the way. And I had some frozen shrimp in the fridge...what to do, what do to.  

Aha!  I decided to make a "pasta" dish using the spaghetti squash and pesto.  It's kind of amazing how the idea was borne out of what I had in my fridge.  I put it all together and voila--you've got this recipe.  

Anyway, it's super easy to make.  Yes, you have to have prepared all these ingredients, but spaghetti squash, cauli puree, and pesto are so very easy to make.  

Hope you all enjoy this simple but indulgent recipe.   --J
----------------------------------------------------

Lemon Butter Shrimp Over Pesto "Sauce" and Spaghetti Squash

by Jamie Miller

PRINT    EMAIL    TEXT   PREP: 10 MINUTES COOK: 5 MINUTES Keywords: saute entree ancestral gluten-free paleo primal soy-free comfort food American French fall spring summer winter This is a recipe for Lemon Butter Shrimp Over Pesto "Sauce" and Spaghetti Squash.

Ingredients 3 cups Basic Roasted Spaghetti Squash 1 1/2 cups Cauliflower Puree 2 cups of uncooked shrimp, cleaned and deveined 1 tablespoon Paleo-Friendly Basil Pesto 2 tablespoons grassfed butter (I like Kerrygold) 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice salt and pepper parsley for garnish

More Like This 1 2 3 4 PrevNext

Instructions

• Heat medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat.
• While the skillet is warming, sprinkle the shrimp with salt and pepper.
• Also, while the skillet is warming, mix the pesto with the cauliflower puree and set aside.
• When the pan is hot, add enough olive oil to coat bottom of pan.
• Add shrimp in a single layer to the pan. Cook for about 1 minute. The shrimp should begin turning pink.
• Then turn the shrimp over and cook for another 30 seconds to a minute.
• Remove shrimp from skillet and finish cooking the rest of the shrimp in the same manner.
• When all the shrimp have been cooked, place in the skillet over medium heat and add all the shrimp, the butter and the lemon juice.
• Stir around the shrimp to coat with the lemon and butter, then remove from heat.
• Divide the spaghetti squash between two plates and then put the pesto/cauliflower "sauce" on top of the spaghetti squash, dividing equally.
• Then place the lemon butter shrimp (1/2 on each plate) on top of the pesto "sauce" and garnish with minced parsley.
• Enjoy!