Hi, everyone! Welcome back to another edition of Talon Mark’s food newest column; What Lola Likes. I, Lola Ajetunmobi, will be making one of my favorite pasta dishes, spicy shrimp pasta.

I love food, and certainly one of my favorite dishes to make (and then eat of course) is pasta. Usually, I would stick to the classic spaghetti with my special marinara sauce and ground beef, but this pandemic has allowed me to explore different things.

I took the idea of adding red pepper flakes in mine from the TikTok trend of people making copycat versions of Bella Hadid spicy vodka pasta. From there, I just added what I had at home to make my own pasta dish.

This is a creamy, fulfilling, lip-smacking, mouth-slurping dish with a little heat and lemon to mellow it out.

Did You know: Pasta originated from China, then was brought

to Italy by Marco Polo, where the ingredients used in Chinese noodles gained popularity in certain parts of Italy during the 13th century.

Now I am not going to bore you anymore with a background story because I know we all just skip right to the recipe. So let’s get started y’all!

2-3 servings

Ingredients:

• Favorite pasta noodle
• 12 pieces of Shrimp
• ½ cup of parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 cup of heavy or whipping cream
• 2 whole tomatoes
• Half a lemon
• 2 teaspoon of minced garlic
• Salt
• 3 teaspoons of Red pepper flakes
• Smoked paprika
• Black pepper
• garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Rosemary
• 2 tablespoons of oils

We are going to start by prepping certain things. This will make it easier to add ingredients instead of running around, making it harder on yourself. I recommend bringing out all of the ingredients that you need for the dish and setting them on your counter.

Put water on the stove and set it to medium or high heat, depending on how hungry you are. Wait 10 minutes for the water to completely bubble.

Make sure your shrimp is clean and deveined (the poop sack is out). If you are using frozen shrimp like I did, make sure to take it out 15 minutes prior, then put it in a bowl with warm water.

Dice your tomatoes into small cubes on a cutting board or plate.

After your water has finished boiling, add some salt to taste and put either a third of the box or a whole box of your favorite pasta in there. Wait for it to completely settle in the water and stir it around a bit so the pasta does not stick together.

Wait five minutes before making your shrimp and sauce because that is not going to take long. We also do not want to risk our noodles being undercooked when we put it in the sauce.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Pasta boiling in hot water. The pasta boils for about 12 minutes. Mar. 1, 2021

Get a frying pan and set it on medium heat. Then add your oil, let that heat up, then add your shrimp and season them. Cook for three minutes on each side.

Remove the shrimp and add your butter, garlic and red pepper flakes. Let that heat up for 45 seconds. Then add your cream and stir that in.

Wait until the cream is smooth and thicker than before, then add a squeeze of lemon juice and your parmesan cheese. Let that thicken up and add your shrimp and diced tomatoes. Wait 45 seconds before adding your pasta.

Your pasta should be done by now. Make sure to save some of that pasta water. Add your pasta and ½ cup of that pasta water into the sauce.

Mix thoroughly and wait a minute before turning off the stove.

There you have my spicy shrimp pasta. Hope you enjoy it.