Quick Shrimp & Penne With Bleu Cheese Vermouth Sauce

If you've heard the old saw that forbids the combination of fish or seafood with cheese, this is one recipe that dispels that misguided advice. Lets be real, there are loads of dishes that ignore that rule including Sole Romano or Flounder with Parmesan Crumbs; Lobster Mac n Cheese; Shrimp, Crab & Scallop Alfredo; or even good old fashioned tuna casserole. So go ahead, it's perfectly delicious to cheese up your fish with abandon!

Quick Shrimp & Penne

With Bleu Cheese Vermouth Sauce

Serves 2

• 12 jumbo shrimp, tails removed, deveined
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 4 T dry white vermouth
• 4 T half and half
• 4 T bleu cheese, crumbled
• 2 small green onions, sliced across - reserve 1 T of the green bits for garnish
• lots of fresh ground black pepper
• freshly shaved parmesan cheese for finishing
• 2 C cooked penne

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes - stir, but do not brown. Once the garlic has softened, add the shrimp. Cook until just pink on both sides. Remove just the shrimp to a plate and set aside.

Add green onions to the oil, garlic and red pepper in the skillet, then add vermouth. Stir up all the good stuff from the bottom of the pan. Add the half & half and stir again; add bleu cheese and stir until smooth. Season with pepper.

Plate the penne in two shallow bowls (to hold all that creamy, cheesy sauce), then divide the shrimp and sauce between them. Garnish with green onion and shaved parm. Add a green salad and dinner is ready in minutes!

NOTE: This really is a quickie recipe...as long as you have cooked pasta on hand, and I did. 

Pro Tip: Cook that whole box of pasta even if you only need part of it, and freeze what's left for fast future dinners (just be sure to cook it only to the al dente stage before freezing in 2 C portions).