The beauty of pesto is: it’s freezable and versatile. If you find yourself with extra mint pesto, create an easy and elegant meal by tossing the pesto with linguine, stir in grilled tomatoes, and peas, then top it off with grilled shrimp on a skewer. Imagine the reaction from your senior living community when they are presented with this for their Sunday lunch! And the taste is as delightful as the color!
One of the most common ways to freeze pesto is filling ice cube trays with it. Once frozen you can pop out the pesto cubes and store them in a freezer safe bag. Due to a frig with a built in ice dispenser, we no longer have ice cube trays so used 2 ounce portion cups instead. Place the cups on a sheet pan, fill them with the pesto and freeze. Once frozen, store the cups in a freezer safe bag.
Vegetable grill pans make it easy to cook small items on the grill. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, toss with a little oil and black pepper, and grill until hot and tender.
If you do not have access to a grill, you can saute the tomatoes with the oil and black pepper.
Flipping your shrimp is easier if you use two skewers. They will lay flat so you can grasp them with the tongs, and the shrimp won’t swing when you pick them up. (Another “trick of the trade” from Chef Patrick!) As you grill the skewers baste them with lemon garlic butter. Watch the color of the shrimp. The shrimp is done when it is completely opaque with a slight pink color. If the color becomes gray then they are overcooked.
If you are baking your skewers, baste and flip, just as would on the grill.
Once all of the ingredients are ready simply toss them together and plate the pasta with the shrimp.
This recipe can easily be adapted to your senior living menu. Raw shrimp skewers are available from most food vendors, and can be grilled or baked. Replace the mint pesto with prepared basil pesto, and saute the tomatoes instead of grilling. Not only will your community love it, they will be impressed that you worked to hard!
Mint Pesto Linguine w/ Tomatoes & Peas
8 ounces Linguine
16-24 each Shrimp, on skewers
1/2 cup Mint pesto
1 cup Heirloom cherry tomatoes
1 cup Frozen peas, thawed
1 T Olive oil
Pinch Black pepper
1/4 cup Butter
2 tsp Garlic, minced dried
Juice of fresh lemon
Allow peas to thaw and bring to room temperature.
Cook linguine until al dente.
While pasta is cooking:
Melt butter with garlic and lemon juice.
Halve cherry tomatoes.
Toss tomatoes with olive oil and pepper.
Place tomatoes on grill in a vegetable grill pan.
Gently stir tomatoes as they cook.
Place shrimp skewers on grill and brush with garlic butter.
Flip shrimp after they begin to turn pink.
Continue to baste with garlic butter.
Reserve 1/2 cup hot pasta water and drain the pasta.
Cook tomatoes until they are tender and hot.
Cook shrimp until they are opaque and slightly pink.
Discard remaining garlic butter.
Toss warm pasta with pesto. Add pasta water as needed so the pesto completely coats the pasta.
Gently stir in the grilled tomatoes and thawed peas.
Place linguine on dinner plate and top with shrimp skewer.
