Fettucine Rigate is my favorite to use in dishes. Rigate is a member of the Fettuccine family. Fettuccine means “little ribbons” in Italian. Fettuccine Rigate differs from Fettuccine in that it has ridges on both sides (rigate means “ridged” in Italian). Pasta shapes with ridges tend to hold more sauce because of the grooves (ridges) versus the smooth pasta.

This sauce is a 'lighter' version of Alfredo sauce, not quite close but passable. Nothing beats the taste of butter in sauce, of course. Since we all want to eat healthy, I chose to skip butter and use olive oil instead. For cooking, I use regular olive oil but if a recipe calls for olive oil drizzled on the food before serving, I use extra virgin olive oil. I heard from Mario Batali, a well-known Italian chef that you shouldn't waste your extra virgin olive oil in cooking, save it for dipping or drizzling over food. So Rachel Ray aka E.V.O.O. , you don't know what you're talking about. LOL

I used asparagus here but you can also use spinach or broccoli. I recommend using freshly grated Parmesan cheese because it adds more depth to the sauce compared to the one that's already bottled.

Fettucine Rigate with Shrimp and Asparagus

1/2 pound fettucine Rigate
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp minced shallots
1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup half and half
1 bunch asparagus stalks
salt
black pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the fettucine rigate and cook according to the directions on the box. Drain.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high flame. Add the garlic and shallots and saute for 1 minute. Add the shrimp and cook until it turns pink. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside. Add the white wine and half and half to the skillet. Let simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half.

In another pan, saute the asparagus in oil. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Return the shrimp to the pan with the sauce and stir in the parsley. Add the drained fettucine rigate to the shrimp mixture, tossing to combine. Add cooked asparagus. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle freshly grated parmesan cheese before serving.


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Posted by Babette