Shrimp Florentine with Caramelized Garlic

Picture from Cooking Light

Source: Cooking Light, March 2006

Make sure to buy frozen loose-leaf spinach for this recipe since you can measure just what you need. Purchase fresh, peeled garlic to save on prep time.

Garlic:
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
20 garlic cloves, peeled
Cooking spray

Shrimp:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon butter
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups frozen loose-leaf spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
4 cups hot cooked linguine (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare garlic, combine 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and garlic in a bowl. Place garlic mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.

To prepare shrimp, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; sauté 3 minutes or until done. Remove shrimp from pan.

Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Stir in half-and-half, broth, cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Cook 1 minute or until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp and spinach; cook 1 minute. Combine shrimp mixture, garlic mixture, and pasta in a large bowl; toss well. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVING: CALORIES 484(24% from fat); FAT 13.1g (sat 5.8g,mono 4.4g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 38.2g; CHOLESTEROL 202mg; CALCIUM 362mg; SODIUM 811mg; FIBER 5.2g; IRON 6.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 51.1g

My Notes: We thought this was a very easy and tasty dish. I was afraid the garlic would dry out, so I tossed it with a bit of olive oil before putting in the oven - seems to have worked. The sauce was thin for me as well, but I simply heated the sauce and the pasta together for several minutes and it thickened up nicely. Next time, I would double the sauce and the pasta, increase the spinach and keep the shrimp about the same. This dish didn't make enough leftovers for me! I wanted to be able to have some the next day. I would also like to try this as a vegetarian dish by adding mushrooms to the dish instead of shrimp.

I talked about this recipe HERE.