5:4 challenge #8 Sweet Shrimp-N-Pasta (p2)

This five four, in my opinion, has been the hardest one yet. The ingredients are: shrimp, snow peas, pineapple, apple and bread crumbs. We get three additional ingredients of our choosing with oil, salt, and pepper being free. At first my thought was a salad. I planned and tried grilling the fruit (apples don't grill very well by the way!) as well as the shrimp and bread. I chose sour dough bread and was going to grill to toast it and then use it as croutons. The grilled pineapple rings and shrimp were going to be placed on a bed of lettuce along with the snow peas and then drizzled with Kraft raspberry vinaigrette for dressing. My shrimp was already precooked and rather tiny so grilling it even the slightest bit was still too much for it. The pineapple and bread turned out great but the apples and shrimp didn't. So I chopped up some apples and pecans and tossed those on top of the salad. My hubby liked it but I was just not wild about it. In theory it was good but I think a lot of it was the fact that the shrimp was over done and dry (even thought I marinated it in the dressing and pineapple juice). I found out a few things by making this dish...1) apples don't grill well at all!, 2) I really don't care for snow peas (they have a tart after taste and 3) I really don't like raspberry dressing. So here I am with what I'm still convinced is a good idea, with some tweaking of course, and yet I cant bring myself to try it again due to how I dislike the flavors of some important ingredients......... So, I tried my second idea and it worked out much much better!



Sweet Shrimp-N-Pasta (P2)
(I really didn't measure so I'm gonna do my best at guesstimating it for you now)

1 to 1 1/2 c shrimp (or enough for 2 people)

! bag of frozen snow peas

3 to 4 slices whole wheat bread crumbs

small can pineapple rings, sliced into chunks with juice divided and reserved

1/2 to 1 c sugar free applesauce

Old Bay Seasoning

salt

Olive oil

whole wheat penne pasta, cooked al dente

1/3 to 1/2 c fresh basil leaves, chopped

• De-shell the shrimp, rinse,drain well and set aside.
• In a food processor make bread crumbs, pulsating til you get a fine crumble texture (I used some I had on hand). Place crumbs on a plate and add some Old Bay seasoning (a few dashes) and mix well.
• In a small bowl add some applesauce and pineapple juice. you want a thick mixture but not as thick as the applesauce on its own. I think I ended up using 2 : 1 of apple sauce to pineapple juice (give or take). Season this mixture with Old Bay seasoning. I didn't measure (sorry) but i think it was 1 to 2 tsp...I added to taste.
• In a skillet heat up a 1 TAB Olive oil (you really don't want much oil if you are using a nonstick skillet).Dip the shrimp into the apple pineapple mixture and coat with bread crumbs. Fry shrimp til golden brown and allow to drain on a paper towel as you finish the rest.
• Place snow peas in a microwavable dish with 2 TAB water and microwave 2 mins. Break up any clumps and microwave another 1 min.
• Boil water for pasta. when its hot add some salt and a little olive oil. When pasta is cooked, drain and place in bowl. Add the snow peas, salt to taste and a drizzle or two of olive oil.
• In the same skillet as the shrimp was cooked (do not clean or wipe out!) Add a drizzle of olive oil if needed and add the pineapple chunks, remaining juice, a dash of salt, some more old bays seasoning - 2 to 3 dashes and a handful of bread crumbs. Saute this til its thickened and heated through.
  

To assemble: place some pasta and snow peas on a serving plate. Top with the pasta with the pineapple breadcrumb saute, then the shrimp and then garnish with basil and ENJOY!

Note: even with this new dish i was not wild about the snow peas...i think I just don't care for them. So when I make this again I think instead of them I'll saute up some sliced bell pepper. It will still give the dish a great color and look nice with the penne pasta as well as go nicely with the shrimp and pineapple.

see even all mixed up it is pretty: