I created this recipe after having fish tacos with my husband on his birthday. We went to a pier in Ventura and had fish tacos. Well I had mine with shrimp. They were simple and obviously made with a sauce that consisted mainly of Thai Sweet Chili sauce. I topped mine with their mild and extremely tasty Tomatillo Avocado salsa.
Fast forward a couple weeks. Jeff and I went to the Channel Islands Farmers Market and visited Fresh Fish Fanatics. They were selling fresh, local, live spot prawns. I'd never had them before and I was SSSOOO curious. So I put together a really simple pasta dish that I ended up adoring. I wanted to make it again to test out my measurements before posting the recipe. Unfortunately I was unable to track down any of those FANTASTIC spot prawns this last weekend. But I was still craving the pasta- so I substituted some scallops we had. Turned out mighty tasty.
This is a simple recipe that comes together pretty quickly. You'll want to make sure to have some flavorful parmesan cheese to top your pasta with. Don't settle for the store brand already shredded parmesan. Normally I don't have too much of an issue with people using it - but this dish really comes together with the salty,nutty flavor of freshly shredded parmesan.
PS~ Don't forget you can sub shrimp in this recipe. Also, I think some bell pepper slices added to this dish would be a really nice addition.
1 lbs of small to medium sized scallops or shrimp
1/2 lbs linguine pasta
1/3 cup of water
1/3 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (My favorite is the Mae Ploy brand)
3 TBSP Salsa verde
2 TBSP butter
1 tsp minced garlic
2 green onions, thinly sliced
freshly shredded parmesan cheese
1) Start your linguine cooking according to the package directions.
2) Meanwhile in a large skillet combine the water, butter, chili sauce, salsa verde and garlic. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer.
3) Continue to simmer until the pasta is almost ready. When pasta is nearly ready, add the scallops to to the simmering sauce and gently cook through. This should only take a couple of minutes. Once cooked through, turn off the heat.
4) Drain the pasta and add it directly to the scallops and sauce. Divide pasta and scallops onto two plates. Drizzle remaining sauce over the dishes and then top with the sliced green onions and shredded parmesan.