This is the best pasta with shrimp & lemon-cream sauce.

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Sorrento, Italy. This part southern part of Italy, is known for producing lemons. We had some amazing fresh limoncello, which is a liqueur. It’s refreshing served ice cold. One evening while staying at the Imperial Hotel Tramontano http://www.hoteltramontano.com/en/, we asked the concierge to recommend a place to dine. A short walk from the hotel has become one of our favorite places to eat, L’Antica Trattoria https://www.lanticatrattoria.com/newsite/en/.

We had zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and ham. But our pasta course was tagliolini or pasta with shrimp and lemon-cream sauce served in a large hollowed-out half of lemon. Since returning to the U.S., we’ve dreamt of this meal, so I decided to surprise my wife by replicating the recipe for our anniversary. I think I came pretty close to the taste. However, I won’t be able to replicate the ambiance of sitting in a small restaurant on a quiet street in Sorrento, Italy. I guess we’ll have to go back again!

Here’s my recipe if you want to try it.

I substituted an angel-hair pasta as I couldn’t find tagliolini at our local market.

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T. olive oil
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice
zest of one lemon
3/4 lb pasta, tagliolini, or angel-hair works well
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Here’s how to put it all together

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan big enough to hold all of the sauce

Add the minced garlic and saute for a two to three minutes

Start heating the water for the pasta

Add the cream, stock, lemon juice, and zest to the garlic and oil and let heat for about five minutes

Add the shrimp and parsley to the sauce for three to four minutes

When you add the shrimp to the sauce, and the water in the other pot is boiling, add the pasta to the water to be done at the same time as the sauce. It should take three to four minutes.

When draining the pasta, save a few spoons of the water to add to the sauce; this tends to help thicken the sauce a little.

Add the pasta back to the pan and pour the sauce into the pan, and stir. Heat briefly

Transfer to plates, top with grated parmesan cheese, and serve

You and your guests will be amazed!