Pasta alla Busara

By John, 10 July, 2024
Region
Italy
Description

"Linguini alla Busara"This is a primo version of the classic Trieste dish Scampi alla Busara, but the traditional scampi (langoustines) are hard to come by in New England, and when made with shrimp it's a great pasta-topper!

Northern Italy is known for risottos and polenta and potato dishes, and pasta is usually of the fresh variety made with 00 flour and eggs, but of course everyone has access to store-bought dried durum semolina pasta and that make this classic from the far northeastern coastal regions of Trieste, Aquileia, and Grado into something that you can easily make on a weeknight if you have canned cherry tomatoes and frozen shrimp.

This particular version I made with black squid ink pasta because I thought it would look dramatic, but that's not part of the recipe.

Yield
4 Servings
Preparation time
10 minutes
Cooking time
20 minutes
Total time
30 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb Linguini
14 oz Cherry Tomatoes
16 oz Jumbo shrimp
1 clv Garlic (crushed)
3 oz Dry White Wine
1 bn Parsley, Flat-Leaf
2 T Olive oil
Instructions
  1. Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Rinse and shell the shrimp. Chop the parsley finely and put it into two bowls. Rinse and drain the tomatoes if you are using canned cherry tomatoes. If you are using fresh cherry tomatoes, cut them in half.
  2. Fry the garlic in a pan with a drizzle of oil until it turns brown, then remove and discard.
  3. Add the shrimp and cook over high heat. Moisten with the white wine and let it evaporate.
  4. Cook the pasta in the boiling, lightly salted water.
  5. Remove the shrimp to a bowl and add the cherry tomatoes. Let them cook until soft.
  6. Scoop a half a ladle of pasta water into the pan and let it boil down. Drain the pasta and pour it into the pan.
  7. Add one bowl of the chopped parsley and stir it in, coating the pasta with the cooking oil.
  8. Transfer the pasta to a serving dish, sprinkle with the remaining chopped parsley and arrange the shrimp on top, serve hot.