Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage

You’ll Need :

½ pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed

1 andouille sausage, about ½ pound, sliced into rounds

1 – 2 tablespoons cajun/creole spice mix, adjust to your spice/heat level

Olive oil

½ medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon cajun/creole spice mix

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 – 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (1 large or 2 small)

½ cup crushed tomatoes

¾ cup chicken broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

¾ cup heavy cream, or ½ & ½ (I prefer heavy cream!!)

12 ounces fettuccine or farfalle (bowties)

Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Grated Parmesan and chopped parsley, for serving

Directions :

Bring large pot of water to boil for pasta. Toss shrimp with 1 – 2 tablespoons of cajun seasoning and coat well. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and drizzle bottom of pan with olive oil. Add shrimp and cook for 2 minutes or so until starting to curl. Flip shrimp over and cook another minute or two and then remove to a plate and set aside. Drizzle pan with a little more olive oil, add sausage and brown until nicely caramelized, about 4 – 5 minutes. Remove to plate, set aside.

Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook until al dente, a minute less than package instructions.

Lower heat to medium and add another good drizzle of olive oil to the pan, add the onion, red bell pepper, thyme, smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning, brown sugar and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until onion and pepper have softened a bit, scraping up any browned bits that you can. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add crushed tomatoes, chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan, simmer a couple minutes. Add cream and stir to combine, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add cooked pasta and andouille sausage and stir to combine and heat through, 2 – 3 minutes. Add more chicken broth or cream if it seems dry or you’d like more sauce (I added ¼ cup of each). Salt and pepper to taste and then lastly, add blackened shrimp and combine, or place shrimp on top of pasta. Sprinkle with some more freshly cracked black pepper, grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. Enjoy!