Saturday nights SHOULD be a time to go out to dinner not eat dinner in. But, when your week’s been long sometimes it’s just nice to kick back, skip the espresso, have some wine (well more than some) and use the kitchen for something a bit more upscale in evening fare.
And that’s what we did at the Cafe Saturday night. We whipped up some Farfalle with White Wine Sauce. Yummy is only one of the sounds we heard upon serving it. But before serving it you have to make it, so let’s start there shall we 
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb farfalle
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (depending on pan size, we like a large, deep skillet for this recipe
- One whole onion (the sweeter the better)
- Four garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- One large sweet bell red pepper (which you’ll leave uncooked)
- Two pounds cooked extra jumbo shrimp, completely de-shelled, thawed
- 1/2 cup white cooking wine (or regular white)
- 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
First things first, have some of your wine Happy? Good, now let’s start.
Fill a large soup pan with water, add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and get it on your stove, turn on the burner to bring it to a boil. That’ll take a few minutes and you’ll be boiling the Farfalle in it.
Fill a large, deep skillet with the olive oil. We used 1/2 a cup but a 1/4 will probably do just as well. Then, turn on the burner under this pan. Be sure to set the burner for low. Using a lower heat more slowly warms up the oil and leads to less “sputtering” up of the oil from the pan once the oil is really hot.
You’ll want to cut up all your ingredients before you start cooking as things will need to be stirred as you cook on the stove so:
- Cut the onion into thin rings, by slicing it. Place onto a plate and set aside.
- Mince the garlic into small pieces. Place into a small bowl and set aside.
- Chop the sweet red bell pepper up into strips then chop those strips up into small squares. You’ll be adding these in raw to the recipe at the very end. They bring a refreshing crunch to the mix.
- Make sure you shrimp is thoroughly thawed by placing them into a colander and then into a large bowl of cold water, thawing takes about 30 minutes or so. Once thawed, insure the tails are off and the shrimp are in a large bowl for you to easily reach and use later in the recipe.
Once you’ve got your ingredients prepared the action gets a bit more intense. Your water may be boiling now, if so, turn the heat down on it, you’ll need it boiling in a few minutes so just keep it hot for now. The oil in the pan should be very hot by this time.
Pour the onions and garlic into the pan with the hot olive oil in it. The sound of searing vegetables and their wonderful smell should make you hungry immediately. You’ll want to stir the cooking onions and garlic pretty much constantly in order to lightly brown (emphasis on lightly) the garlic and onion. That’ll take about 5 minutes or so.
Crank up the heat on the pan of hot water in which you’ll be boiling the Farfalle, you’ll want to bring it back to a boil to cook the Farfalle in.
Once the onion and garlic are browned, pour in the shrimp. Stir and cook for about 8 minutes. Cooking the shrimp makes them softer for this recipe and really helps to bring out their flavor (providing you like shrimp of course).
While the shrimp are cooking, the pan of boiling water should be, well, boiling. Put in the 1/2 pound of Farfalle. Stir and let it cook about 10 minutes. You’ll want it to be al dente - soft to the bite but not squishy. A sort of firm/soft kind of state of being.
About now, the shrimp’s color should be turning a bit more red but more important they should be softening. Take one out and give it a bite, it should be a bit softer. It’s at this point you want to pour in the 1/2 cup of white cooking wine, stir it a bit, and then put the cover back on the pan. You’ll want to simmer this mix, so turn the heat down to low/medium. Let it cook until the shrimp are tender, that’ll be about 10 minutes.
By now the Farfalle should be al dente, so drain it into a colander, and then rinse it with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking. Pour the Farfalle into a large mixing bowl - you’ll be mixing it with all the other ingredients in this bowl so make sure it’s large enough to mix things around.
Turn the heat off under the shrimp and then, pour it onto the Farfalle. There should be a nice light white wine sauce that comes out of the pan along with the shrimp. Make sure you scrape in any of the onion and garlic sticking to the bottom of the pan. Pour the red bell pepper in as well that you chopped up. Then toss everything together in the bowl till it’s all covered. Sneak an occasional taste (cook’s privilege!).
Place into serving bowls, garnish with 1 Tablespoon of parmesan cheese and enjoy! Serves four; add a salad and fresh bread for a nice meal.
What did the taste tester’s think?
Human taste tester one: “Very good, I really like the subtle tastes in this. It’s like upscale comfort food”.
Dog taste tester one: “Woof” (this was after the Cafe Hound sneakily snuck her snout into my plate).
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