Culinary Cavewoman: Shrimp and Spaghetti Squash in Tomato Cream Sauce

Hey y'all!

Welcome to the introduction of Culinary Cavewoman: Bambi's Adventures in Paleo. Now I have no idea how this blog feature is gonna go for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm not the best cook. I can do it, but I'm never gonna be Rachel Ray. 
2. I'm a messy cook! My kitchen looks like a disaster zone when I'm in the midst of the culinary chaos.
3. I'm not the best photographer. So when that is paired with my messy kitchen... just don't expect to be looking at masterpiece dining.

That being said... we are gonna have us an adventure. I am going to try to include one recipe per week on the blog. They may be recipes that I have tried from Pinterest, or something I cobbled together, or a regular ol' recipe that I have paleo-fied by substituting some ingredients. The recipes may be a great success or they may be a huge fail, but we will find out together.

This first recipe is a winner - one that I will be making again and again and again! So let's get started.

Shrimp and Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• One Spaghetti Squash
• 1 lb Shrimp, Medium (Peeled and Deveined) 
• Cajun Seasoning
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Italian Seasoning
• 8 oz can Organic Fire-Roasted Tomatoes
• 1/4 cup green onion or chives
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 cup dry white wine (must be dry!)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream*

Instructions / Destructions

So the first thing you need to do for this recipe is get you a spaghetti squash. And you want to cut that sucker in half length-wise without managing to chop off a finger. This is harder than it looks - these suckers are tough! 

Once you have cut your squash in half, scoop out all those seeds and discard them. Then spray a little olive oil on both sides of the squash. Season it up! You can use what you want but I typically use garlic powder, sea salt and italian seasonings. I sometimes use onion powder. But just sprinkle it along... I'm not precise.  Place your squash cut-side down onto a flat baking sheet and roast it at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Insert Jeopardy timer... do do do do, do do do, do do do do DO duh do do do do do.... 30 minutes later.

When your squash has about 15-20 minutes left on the timer, you want to start prepping your shrimp and sauce. Pull out those shrimp and season them up! I like to use cajun seasoning and I think they gave this recipe a nice flavor. If you don't like cajun seasoning, then some salt and pepper should suffice. 

Saute those shrimp with some olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked through. This takes approximately 3 minutes, turning over half way through. Set the shrimp aside when they are done cooking.

Next, in the same pan that you cooked your shrimp, throw your tomatoes, onion, pepper flakes, basil, garlic and butter. Season with a little pepper if you want. Add the dry white wine (and pour yourself a glass too!). Cook this concoction over medium-high heat until most of the wine has evaporated. You want to cook it down until there is about 1/4 cup liquid left.

Now you want to stir in your coconut cream.* Add your shrimp back to the pan and warm for 2 minutes. It's starting to look yummy now.

While your shrimp is warming, you want to turn your squash into spaghetti.  If you haven't already pulled your squash from the oven, do so now and flip it over...  take a fork and rake it through the squash and it will come up in strings - just like... spaghetti! 

Gently stir your spaghetti squash into you shrimp and sauce. Don't be too rough because you don't want to make it all mushy. I also add in some parmesan cheese, but that is not strictly paleo... so you can take it or leave it. It tastes good either way.

I promise this tastes phenomenal despite my poor picture skills. If you are serving this with a side salad, I would say it makes 4 servings. If you are serving it as the sole main dish, I would say it makes 3 servings. And the leftovers are just as good as the freshly cooked. Nom nom nom!

*What's coconut cream you say? Well I didn't know either. The only place I have managed to find coconut cream is at Trader Joe's, and not everyone has access to one. So I had to hunt down a substitution, because I just didn't have any. 

So if you don't have coconut cream, you can make your own really easily... and its what I did for this recipe before I made a Trader Joe's run. Get a CAN of coconut milk and let it sit overnight without touching it. You don't want to shake it up. Let it sit and settle. If its really hot in your area/house, you may want to stick it in the refrigerator.  When you are ready for your coconut cream, carefully open your can of coconut milk WITHOUT shaking it. Open it up and pour out the water that is at the top. What you will be left with is all the white coconut meat/pulp at the bottom. That's your coconut cream! Scoop you out a half cup and you are ready to go. Super easy! (Make sure the can of coconut milk you are getting is NOT first pressed, that never works and comes out looking like chunky watery coconut oil.)

So that's it for our first recipe. Let me know if you try it - or if you doctor it up. This would be easy to make vegetarian for all my rabbity friends. I want to hear how you liked it!