To make it easy on ourselves… we buy already peeled and cleaned jumbo gulf shrimp from our seafood monger. And… up until last week, we were still pinching fresh sage from our backyard garden here in Washington DC. You can serve this dish alone or with pasta. So… if you’re an adventurous cook… search for our pasta dough recipe on our blog.
Ingredients…
24 Wagshal’s Gulf shrimp, peeled, deveined, rinsed and dried thoroughly
1 slice of Pancetta, 1/2 inch thick, frozen and sliced thinly or shaved on a diagonal
extra virgin olive oil
1-2 generous pinches of red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
1 sprig of fresh sage
Maldon sea salt flakes
Freshly ground white pepper
Pecorino cheese, grated finely
Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
To Make…
Heat a heavy sauté pan on medium high… we use our 12 inch Lodge Cast Iron skillet for this one.
Add the sliced Pancetta and cook to render its fat. Turn heat down to medium and continue to brown Pancetta until crisp on all sides. Remove pancetta to a resting platter reserving the rendered fat in the skillet.
In the same skillet… up heat to medium high and add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom. Add the sliced garlic, red pepper flakes and fresh sage sprig. Cook for a minute or so to release the flavors of the sage and spices. Add the shrimp and cook, tossing as needed to heat all sides. As soon as the shrimp turns color… turn off the heat. Remove the sage sprig.
Add the crisp Pancetta to the shrimp and toss. Season to taste with sea salt flakes and freshly ground white pepper. Garnish with finely grated Pecorino and chopped flat leaf parsley.
Serve hot out alone or over fresh Tagliatelle pasta drizzled with olive oil tossed with the dregs of the shrimp sauté.