No come alla Nuova Orleans – Fettucine integrali con gamberi, fave e pomodori secchi

fettucinefavaweb

After a little trip to New Orleans, I have to admit I was really looking forward to coming back to San Francisco, and I think I had legitimate reasons.

First of all the weather, it was incredibly hot and humid, then the food, it was even more incredibly greasy, very unhealthy (almost no vegetables) or the few ones served in restaurants were fried. “Fried” is the magic word in New Orleans. Actually I knew many Southern food dishes were fried but I was was not expecting it to such an extent. You can find dishes such as shrimp or crawfish étouffée but the poor seafood is swimming in the heavy brownish sauce and you end up not tasting the delicate flavor of seafood at all.  I certainly did not spend enough time to appreciate the great things about New Orleans or try the “other” cuisine, but I have to still talk about my experience, and unfortunately that was it.

Overall, it was quite an interesting experience and as any experience it enables you to really appreciate things better, you never know how much you like and miss something until you no longer have it.

One thing I appreciated so much was the hospitality of the people, everyone was just unbelievably charming, helpful and so polite. Quite a change from California.

As soon as I came back home, I had some pasta and seafood cravings, so to indulge myself, I made this delicious and flavorful pasta dish. Shrimps and fava beans mix beautifully together and the wholesomeness of the pasta combined with the other ingredients makes it a perfect lunch.

Ingredients for 2

  • 5.3 ounces (150 g) whole wheat fettucine
  • 1/2 shrimps
  • 1/2 lb fava beans
  • 2 tbs sundried tomatoes
  • 2 tbs plain bread crumbs
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 pinch hot chili powder
  • 1 tbs parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Preparation

Peel the shrimps and devein. Remove fava beans from pods and cook in boiling water for about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the beans ( if the beans are big, would need a little more cooking time). Drain the beans and remove the skin. Set aside.

Cook fettucine in boiling water for about 7 minutes or until al dente, do not over cook pasta.

Heat olive oil, add shrimps and cook for a few minutes, then add sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir well and add garlic, chili powder and bread crumbs. Cook until the bread crumbs turn brown.

Add cooked fettucine to the shrimps and fava bean mixture. Mix well all the ingredients and add parsley. Mix again fettucine and serve hot.