Moroccan-Spiced Shrimp Fettuccine

This Moroccan-Italian fusion dish uses Middle Eastern spices for the shrimp, and a basic Alfredo sauce amped up with Aleppo pepper flakes. Add a fresh salad to make it a complete meal.

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• Use Middle Eastern Spices for a Warming Dish
• Ingredients You'll Need
• Notes
• How to Make Moroccan-Spiced Shrimp Fettuccine
• Eat, Comment, Share, and Follow!
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Use Middle Eastern Spices for a Warming Dish

We love Middle Eastern cuisine. The warming spices are amazing, and can be used with almost any type of dish. I'm not sure how well they would work with desert, but I'm going to try it sometime. Middle Eastern-spiced scones might be really good!

We use Aleppo pepper in this dish. It has about the same heat level as regular red pepper flakes, but it's got a lot more flavor. It has undertones of cumin and fruitiness that add a unique layer of flavor to your cooking.

Ingredients You'll Need

This recipe has a lot of ingredients, so there will be a lot of measuring. But once your prep work is done the dish comes together quickly!

fettuccini
parsley (for garnish)

For the Sauce

butter
garlic
flour
heavy cream
half and half (you can use milk for a lighter sauce)
Aleppo pepper flakes (or other dried pepper flakes)
Parmesan cheese
Romano cheese
salt and pepper

Note: Aleppo pepper is a Middle Eastern ingredient, and you may not be able to find it in your local supermarket. But you can get a similar flavor by mixing 4 parts sweet paprika to 1 part cayenne pepper and a pinch of salt.

For the Shrimp

butter
olive oil
garlic
paprika
coriander
cumin
cayenne pepper
turmeric
cinnamon
salt
shrimp

Notes

We like our spices intense! If you're new to Middle Eastern flavors, we suggest going low at first and using half the spice amounts. It will still be tasty, and will give you a good introduction to this wonderful cuisine.

The hottest ingredient in this recipe is the cayenne pepper. If you don't like a lot of heat, leave it out.

How to Make Moroccan-Spiced Shrimp Fettuccine

Ingredients

Linguine is the base of this dinner, and parsley is the garnish.

Here are the sauce ingredients: half and half, cream, butter, flour, Parmesan and Romano cheese, garlic, and Aleppo peppers.

The shrimp is sautéed in butter, olive oil, garlic, and spices: paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, turmeric, cinnamon, and salt.

Here's a big bowl of shrimp. The longest part of the prep work is taking the tails off of the shrimp! Really, does anyone like tails on shrimp served with a sauce? If you don't want to waste the tails, put them in a zip lock bag and freeze them, and when you've got enough use them to make shrimp stock.

Even if you bought "peeled and deveined shrimp", be sure to check them carefully to make sure there are no bits of shell and that they're completely "deveined". The "vein" on a shrimp is not a blood vessel, of course. It's the tail end of the shimp's digestive system, and you know what ends up there! (I found four or five in this two pounds of shrimp that I had to finish cleaning.)

Make the Pasta

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Drain and set aside. (You can toss the pasta with a little olive oil or melted butter to keep it from sticking together.)

(No picture. It's a pot of pasta. Move on, nothing to see here.)

Make the Sauce

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drop a couple of bits of garlic into the pan, and when they start to sizzle add the rest of the garlic and sauté for about a minute. I call this the "sizzle test".

Gradually add the flour and whisk well to ensure that there are no lumps.

Gradually pour in the heavy cream and whisk to combine with the flour. Do the same with the half and half.

Add the Aleppo pepper and stir to combine.

Slowly stir in the Parmesan and Romano cheeses and stir until they get melty. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the sauce until it starts to bubble, then reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until it thickens to your preferred consistency. If it gets too thick you can add a bit more half and half or milk. If it's too thin you can add a bit more flour or cheese. Just make sure you don't throw the flavor balance off! Taste again and adjust the salt and pepper if necessary.

Make the Shrimp

Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet. Use the sizzle test to tell when to add the garlic, and sauté for about a minute.

Add the spices and stir for about a minute until you can smell those wonderful fragrances.

Add the shrimp and sauté for about four minutes until they're pink and opaque.

Plate and Serve

If your pasta is nice and thick you can use a plate; if it's a bit thin and runny, put it in a bowl.

Put some pasta on the dish. If you want to impress your guests, twirl the pasta into a nest like the chefs do in the cooking shows. I clearly need to work on my technique.

Pour some sauce over the pasta. "Some" = "As much as you want." The judges on cooking competition shows (I'm looking at you, "Chopped"!) are always complaining that they don't get enough sauce.

Add a scoop or two of shrimp and garnish with parsley if you like. If you want a bit more heat, you can sprinkle some Aleppo pepper over it!

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