While at the beauty shop the other day, I was skimming through magazines to pass the time and came across today’s recipe for Farfalle with Lemon, Shrimp, and Kale in the February 2019 issue of Real Simple magazine. I knew I had shrimp in the freezer (got it on sale) and the photo that accompanied the recipe looked great — as they all do. I snapped a picture of the recipe with my phone and added kale to my grocery list.

 

Farfalle with Lemon, Shrimp and Kale

12 oz. farfalle pasta (bow tie)

1 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 bunch lacinato kale, chopped (5 cups packed)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon zest plus 3 Tablespoons fresh juice (from 1 lemon)

1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for cooking pasta

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped roasted, salted pistachios

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil over high. Add pasta and cook, occasionally stirring, until almost al dente, about 8 minutes. Add shrimp and kale and cook, undisturbed, until shrimp are opaque and kale is tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Add oil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper and toss to combine. Top with pistachios.

Makes four servings

 

On Saturday, I stopped at the grocery and picked up the items on my list, plus a few items that weren’t. I wasn’t sure what lacinato kale was, so I picked a smaller bunch from what was on the shelf.

I planned to make this dish on Sunday for our evening meal. When we got home from church, I removed the shrimp from the freezer so they could thaw.

Around 4 p.m., I started getting things ready to start cooking. The recipe stated it would take about 20 minutes to put this dish together, but I wasn’t banking on it.

The shrimp had not thawed, but all I had to do was put them in a colander and run cold water over them. While I peeled them, I asked Brad to look up how to devein them. He said split them down the back and remove the vein, which he told me is their intestine. Oh my gosh, I didn’t want to know that.

When the shrimp were peeled and thoroughly deveined, I put them in the refrigerator while I washed the kale. Removing the kale from the bag put grit all over my hands. I didn’t realize kale would be dirty.

After rinsing about half the bunch of kale, I tore the leaves from the stems, placed the stems in the compost bin, and chopped up the leaves. Lo and behold I had about 5 cups.

I filled a large pot with water and poured in some salt. When the water came to a rapid boil, I added the pasta and set the timer. I let the pasta boil for 10 minutes then dumped in the shrimp and kale.

While the mixture continued to cook, I combined the oil, lemon, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Because I don’t like pepper, I opted to use 1/2 teaspoon versus 3/4 teaspoon.

After two minutes I removed one shrimp from the water and cut it in half to see if it was done.

The shrimp was ready, so I drained the pasta, shrimp and kale mixture and poured it into a large bowl then drizzled the oil mixture over the top. I added the chopped pistachios and tossed the mixture. We were ready to eat.

You might remember I don’t like many green vegetables and typically only like my shrimp fried. This dish was going to be a real experience for me.

It was a pretty dish; it looked as good as the picture in the magazine.

We both said the dish had a little too much salt in it, though it wasn’t overwhelming. Brad said he wouldn’t mind having more kale in it, which didn’t surprise me since he likes vegetables. Brad thought the amount of pepper was fine, and I had to agree.

Even though this dish has a green vegetable in it and I didn’t fry the shrimp, it’s one that will go in my self-made cookbook because I nailed it.

I think Jennifer, a friend and former co-worker, would be proud of me for trying this recipe. She knows how picky I am.

Next time if I have everything ready to go, I think I could get this dish on the table in about 20 minutes. It’s one I could prepare during the week after a long day at work.

I’ll have to buy peeled and deveined shrimp and I’ll have to rinse the kale the night before thoroughly.

I still can hardly believe I liked this dish with not-fried shrimp and a green vegetable.

Brad has already said I could add shiitake mushrooms and maybe asparagus to the dish.

Sarah Condley is an amateur baker and chef who is compiling a cookbook of her favorite recipes.