Fresh Linguine with Shrimp and Peas in a Pink Cream Sauce
on Mar 14, 2018, Updated Nov 30, 2024
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The delicate texture of fresh pasta is well-matched with a lightly creamy sauce and some crisp-tender shrimp and peas. A simple, quick, and very pretty pasta dish.
This pasta with shrimp and peas in its pretty pink sauce is a dazzler of a dish. When you combine fresh pasta with big shrimp, you are very quickly telling your guests that you love them very much. But it’s not just the guests who will be extremely happy. This whole dish comes together in about 20 minutes. Really! Truly!
This creamy shrimp and peas pasta recipe is really a full one-dish meal, but it would be spectacular served alongside sautéed kale, sautéed broccoli, or a big salad with homemade Italian dressing. Start the meal with zucchini fritti for a full Italian menu.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Extra-large shrimp – Peeled and deveined. You can sub in any size shrimp, or use prawns.
- Olive oil – For cooking.
- Garlic – Sautéeing crushed garlic in oil and then removing and discarding the garlic imparts a more subtle garlic flavor to the dish. Minced garlic would be much more overpowering.
- Tomato paste – For rich caramel-y umami notes.
- Fresh linguine – Using fresh pasta will make this dish next-level good. You can also use other long, skinny, fresh pasta like fettucine. Dried pasta, such as spaghetti, is also an option.
- Fresh parsley and fresh basil – There are plenty of times when dried herbs are just as good as fresh, but here you must use fresh. The minute you taste this, you’ll understand why. The mix of basil and parsley is refreshing and smells like a garden exploded in your kitchen.
- Frozen peas – For texture and minis bursts of flavor. If you have fresh peas, by all means use those!
- Heavy cream – For richness and creaminess.
- Salt and pepper – To taste.
Variations
- Try making this with prawns instead of shrimp. Larger prawns typically take a few more minutes to cook than shrimp, so adjust the cook time accordingly.
- Try this recipe with scallops. You can use small bay scallops, which just need a quick sauté before they are set aside to rejoin the pasta and sauce later. Or, big fat sea scallops would be a huge treat. Sear the scallops for about 3 minutes on each side until just cooked through, and then just place them on top of the sauced pasta at the end. You could also top the pasta with grilled scallops.
- Use both scallops and shrimp for a creamy seafood linguine!
- Try cubed chicken breast instead of the shrimp.
- Add 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce.
- Toss 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest into the pasta at the very end.
- Add some red pepper flakes.
This may also be called Rosatella Sauce or Marinara Alfredo sauce. It’s basically a combination of tomatoes and cream, but a bit heavier on the cream than the tomatoes. That makes it different than vodka sauce, which is basically a tomato sauce with a smaller amount of cream added (plus vodka, of course, which this sauce doesn’t have). Here, we use tomato paste, but often, tomato paste is used. The red of the tomato paste and the white of the cream create, as one would expect, a pale pink sauce.
How to Make Creamy Pasta with Shrimp and Peas
- Prepare the pasta water: Bring a big salted pot of water to boil.
- Cook the shrimp: Heat oil in a skillet and sauté the garlic. Remove the garlic cloves and toss them out. Add the shrimp to the skillet and sauté just until they start to turn pink, then remove and set aside on a plate.
- Make the sauce: Add the tomato paste and white wine to the pan and stir to combine. Add the parsley, basil, peas, and cream, and bring to a simmer. Season with black pepper. Return the partially cooked shrimp to the sauce and continue to simmer.
- Cook the pasta: Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions. Set aside some pasta water to mix into the sauce and drain the pasta.
- Finish and enjoy: Toss to combine the pasta and sauce. Add some of the reserved pasta water to the sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with additional parsley or basil if desired, and serve immediately.
Fresh Pasta vs. Dried
Fresh pasta is more delicate and tender than dried pasta, and it cooks in about half the time. It has a little bit of silkiness to it, and when it’s enveloped in a creamy sauce, it’s one of the more lush meals around. I love both fresh and dried pastas, and most Italian cooks do, too, but you get different results with each. This recipe will work with either, but the fresh noodles make it really special.
When I was a kid, I was a little bit obsessed with making fresh pasta. I asked for a pasta machine when I was 12 and spent copious amounts of time cranking out ribbons of fresh pasta and then hanging them to dry on the back of our dining room chairs. My mother was about as happy about that as you might imagine.
Kitchen Smarts
Adding some of the pasta cooking water to the dish cuts the heaviness of the cream sauce, plus the bit of starch that stays in the cooking water helps bind the sauce to the pasta. Salt the sauce lightly, if at all, up to the point where you add the pasta cooking water, which will also be salted. Then taste and see if you need more seasoning.
Storage and Leftovers
This dish is best made and enjoyed right away, but leftover pasta will stay good in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To heat up leftovers, either warm it up in a pan on the stovetop or in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring in between until hot.
What to Serve With Shrimp and Pea Linguine Pasta
More Shrimp Recipes to Try
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Shrimp and Peas with Linguine in Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 2 pounds extra-large shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled and lightly crushed)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 (9-ounce) packages fresh linguine
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup chopped fresh basil
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- Chopped fresh parsley (or basil; to taste)
Instructions
- Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a very large skillet over medium heat, and sauté the garlic for 3 or 4 minutes, just until it starts to lightly color. Remove the garlic cloves and toss them. Add the shrimp to the skillet and sauté for about 3 minutes until the shrimp have started to turn pink, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside.
- Add the tomato paste and white wine to the skillet and stir until the tomato paste has dissolved into the wine. Add the parsley, basil, peas, and cream, and bring to a simmer. Season with pepper. Return the partially cooked shrimp to the sauce and continue to simmer until the peas and shrimp have cooked through, about 2 minutes.
- While you are making the sauce, cook the pasta in the boiling water according to package directions, about 4 minutes. Remove 1/2 cup of the cooking water, and stir it into the sauce, then drain the pasta. Taste the sauce and see if it needs more salt or pepper.
- Return the pasta to the pot, pour over the sauce and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle with additional parsley or basil if desired, and serve immediately.
Notes
- You can use dried pasta instead of fresh, though the texture will be firmer and chewier.
- Try making this with prawns instead of shrimp. Larger prawns typically take a few more minutes to cook than shrimp so adjust the cook time accordingly.
- Try this recipe with scallops. You can use small bay scallops, which just need a quick sauté before they are set aside to rejoin the pasta and sauce later. Or, use big fat sea scallops would be a huge treat. Sear the scallops for about 3 minutes on each side, until just cooked through, and then just place them on top of the sauced pasta at the end. You could also top the pasta with grilled scallops.
- Add 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese to the sauce.
- Toss 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest into the pasta at the very end.
- Add some red pepper flakes.
my husband’s favorite!
Love this recipe! Thank You!
I would like to save the sauteed garlic cloves. If I don’t want to use them in the next day or so, will they still be flavorful if I freeze them?
you know, I’ve never done that but I think sure, why not?