Linguine with Honeyed Tomato Sauce and Shrimp

I never get duped by the telemarketers. I was, in fact, a telemarketer for 3 days once, so I know how bad that job sucks, but I also know to never trust them. I did learn that people are really mean, so I am always polite to them - so I politely tell them that I am not interested and to take me off their list. But through a mailer in the mail with pretty pictures of food?? Ummm, I've fallen to that type of advertising a few times!! This was one of them. I was probably 18 years old, living on my own for the first time, and had probably a total of 2 cookbooks to my name. Then I get this nice, fat envelope in the mail with a free magnet and pretty recipe cards. I think it was pretty new back then, and I was able to join for free. They would send me a book every four weeks, and I could either buy it or send it back at no cost. Thank goodness I realized I was a poor college student and canceled my membership after 2 books. Especially since I never even opened one of those books until just months ago. (It looks like they now do a magazine instead of the books. Hmmmm...) Now, I just have to throw the junk mail away before even looking at it - or I would probably be broke!!

I decided to start utilizing my cookbooks, and this recipe comes from that effort. I should have posted it a few weeks back when the tomato harvest was at it's peak, but other recipes always seem more important to be posting. So I am finally getting around to this one!! The sauce on this pasta dish is supposed to be more of an uncooked sauce, but I did let mine simmer for a bit to cook down and become a little thicker. It was just personal preference, though. The only complaint I have about this recipe is that I was hoping for it to have more of a honey taste to it, but really, you could only taste the honey while eating a shrimp. If I were to make it again, I would add more honey to the sauce, because the honey element is what attracted me to this recipe.

By Deborah

Linguine with Honeyed Tomato Sauce and Shrimp

from Pasta Classics by Cooking Club of America

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 oz. dried linguine
5 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and minced
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons white wine or sherry vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:

Fill large pot two-thirds full of water; add 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook linguine according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, stir together tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of the minced garlic, basil and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons pepper; set aside.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in medium skillet; add shallot and remaining 1 teaspoon garlic. Saute 2 minutes; stir in vinegars and honey. Add shrimp; cook about 2 minutes,turning once, until just pink. Remove skillet from heat; transfer shrimp to small plate and keep warm. Return skillet to medium heat. Add 3 tablespoon water; swirl. Stir juices into tomato sauce. In another large pot, bring tomato sauce to a boil over medium-high heat; boil 3 minutes to reduce sauce.

Drain pasta thoroughly; do not rinse. Immediately toss sauce with cooked pasta. Divide pasta evenly among 4 plates; top each portion with shrimp.

**We also topped ours with Pecorino - another personal preference!!