I knew as soon as I dreamed up this recipe that it would be a big weiner. I once had a dish similar to this at a restaurant in my homeytown of Baltimore, MD, but I had to Slimmify it to make it mo’ better. You know, take out the butter, and cream, and the gooey stuff, and replace with some Slimness. Basically, it's pasta with garlic, fresh Roma tomatoes, peas, and blackened shrimp. And a little white wine, of course. The blackened shrimp gives this pasta dish a Cajun/Caribbean flavor, so I call it my Rasta Pasta. Smoke the ganja, then we mangia!

Now, this is exactly how I made it. I’m almost embarrassed to tell you how much garlic I used. But you can adjust and fine tune to your liking.

Ingredients:
1 pound penne rigate pasta
8 Roma tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
1 pound medium-small shrimp
1 16-ounce bag frozen green peas
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine

Chop 6 big cloves of garlic. Chop ‘em up fine. Saute over medium-low flame until golden brown in cup cup of extra virgin olive oil. Add eight Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped. Add cup cup white wine. Saute for ten minutes over medium-low flame. Remove from heat. Let all them flavors mingle and get to know one another.

Take a pound of green peas. Isn’t that one of those save-the-whales groups? Green Peas? Anyway, fresh peas are delightful, but hard to find. I used frozen. Take the peas, and saute them in a little white wine over a low heat until they defrost. Don’t overcook! Make sure they aren’t mushy. Ain’t nothin’ worse than mushy peas. Set aside.

I used 1 1/2 pounds of fresh medium-small shrimp. A pound would do. But I love to eat these spicy devils, so a lot got consumed in the process.

Shell and de-vein shrimp. If you’ve never de-veined shrimp before, it’s easy. Time consuming, but easy. You could use frozen shrimp, already shelled and de-veined, but I’ve tried both and I much prefer the funky fresh way.

To de-vein, hold the shrimp between your thumb and forefinger. Make an incision from the head to the tail, straight down the spine. You’ll see a dark vein of shrimp poop. Remove the vein and rinse the shrimp. Not all shrimp have these veins. Oh well…

When all the shrimp are shelled, de-veined and rinsed, pat dry with paper towels. Drizzle with olive oil, making sure all are coated lightly. And then use your favorite blackening seasoning to coat the shrimp. I used Paul Prudhomme’s. Got it at the Safeway, even. If you like ‘em spicy, use a lot.

Take an iron skillet. A dry, iron skillet. Go outside. If you do this indoors, you’d better have a ventilation system with the suction power of a 747, ‘cause it’s smoky! Turn up a burner to full blast. I have a burner on the side of my grill. It really does the job. Wait for ten minutes or more, until it’s white hot. Put the dogs in the house. Warn the kids. Have the hoses ready, and the extinguishers handy. Put on your oxygen mask. And then toss those shrimpys on the skillet. Let ‘em cook for about a minute. And then turn ‘em over. It ain’t easy. I ended up just stirring them around. Cook for another minute or so.

I’m assuming you know how to make pasta. Use lots of water. Cook at the highest possible temperature until al dente. Firm. Chewy. Not mushy and squooshy. I used one pound of penne rigate. Pens with ridges is the English translation. Italians have some great names for pastas. Farfalle (butterflies). Acini de pepe (peppercorns). My favorite? Lingue de passeri (tongues of sparrows). Anyway, the pasta is cooked and drained.

Transfer the pasta to a big warm bowl. Add a little olive oil to the pasta. Mix it up. Add the sauce (Roma tomatoes, garlic, white wine). Mix it up. Add the peas. Mix it up. Add the blackened shrimp. Mix ‘em all together. It’s a delish! I made this for our whole staff (all four of us) and they were diggin’ this action.

Enjoy!