Shrimp and Tasso Pasta

This pasta is delish and more importantly, easy to make! First though, if you're not from the South...Maybe you're asking yourself, "What is tasso?" Well...let me give you a little background and then we'll talk about the recipe. Tasso is pork, similar to ham. Except tasso is smoked with lots of different seasonings and spices. Like bacon, tasso adds so much flavor to food! It's found in a lot of cajun recipes- but you can buy in any grocery store near the deli section! It comes in a package that looks similar to bacon, but the tasso itself is cut into really small pieces (or you can buy it whole). If you can find a cajun brand (like Richard's or Savoie's), definitely buy that one! I bought the HEB brand this time and it was good. Here's a picture of what tasso looks like:

Now the recipe.

Ingredients

- diced, fresh veggies: yellow onion, green onion, red bell pepper, celery, garlic, portobello mushrooms

- 2 tablespoons of butter

- a few cups of heavy whipping cream (depending on how much sauce you want to make- allow for about 1/4 of a cup of cream per serving)

- 1 package of McCormick's creamy garlic alfredo sauce mix (the dry seasoning in the package)

- 1 pound of peeled, deveined shrimp

- 1 pound of tasso

- bowtie pasta (or whatever kind you like)

Directions

1) Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the veggies with your choice of seasonings. 

2) Add the tasso and cook it down with the veggies. 

3) Add the shrimp and cook them until they are pink (be careful during all of this that your fire is not too hot or you will burn the butter).

4) Remove everything from the pot and set aside for a few minutes. 

5) Add the whipping cream and the McCormick's seasoning mix to the pot- bring to a boil. Be careful at this point because the cream will rise quickly and boil over. Continuously stir the cream and it will thicken. Then reduce the heat to a simmer.

6) Add the cooked veggies, tasso, and shrimp to the sauce. Let this simmer while the noodles are cooking.

7) Serve the sauce over the pasta- top with green onions and red bell pepper if desired!

As always, if you're not a fan of shrimp you can substitute chicken. But if you do, I would cook the chicken first, then add the tasso and the veggies to cook. 

    
      Get Cookin'!