issue 30 // volume 42 life & style // no. ‘Wi

Easy spicy Mediterranean
shrimp pasta

> A delicious summer dish for hot summer nights

Rebecca Peterson
Staff Writer

 

here’s nothing like fresh

pasta for dinner, and in the
summer I like my dishes full of
flavour and spice. This dish is
not only super easy to prepare,
but can be a fun twist on your
average garlic shrimp pasta, if
you're not afraid of a little heat.
This recipe makes enough for four
people, but can easily be adapted
for smaller or larger crowds.
Usually when I make it I eyeball
how much pasta I’m making and
adjust the ingredients accordingly
depending on taste—some
people don’t like quite as much
garlic in their sauce as I do! Thai
chili peppers are tiny, but don’t be
fooled by their size, one is easily
enough to give your pasta that
extra kick.

Ingredients:

4 servings of capellini (angel
hair pasta)

2-4 cups of pre-cooked frozen
shrimp, thawed

1 Thai chili pepper

3-5 cloves of fresh garlic

2/3 cup of chopped red onion

3 tbsp of pitted Kalamata
olives

2 cups of cherry tomatoes

icup of Italian white wine

1-2 cups of crumbled feta
cheese

Olive oil on hand

Italian seasoning to taste

Fresh basil to taste

Instructions:
Prep is easily going to take
up the most time with this recipe,

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so make sure you have all your
ingredients ready, your pot of
water for the pasta heating on
the stove top, and your shrimp
thawing well in advance. If you
missed your chance to take
them out of the freezer earlier in
the day, then prepare a bowl of
warm to moderately hot water
and let the bag of shrimp soak
in it to thaw quicker. The pasta
water should be salted and well
oiled. Capellini has a bad habit
of sticking together, so you really
can't have too much olive oil in
the pasta water to prevent that
from happening.

While the shrimp is thawing,
mince your chili pepper, finely
chop your red onion, and slice
up your garlic cloves. I usually
like to cut my garlic in long,
thin strips, but it’s really up to
you. Depending on how you
chop them, remember to adjust
your cooking time accordingly! |
usually halve my Kalamata olives
and leave my cherry tomatoes
whole, but it’s again a personal
choice on the chef’s part. One
thing I love about this recipe is
how flexible it is!

Pull out a skillet and put it
on medium heat, with a healthy
spread of olive oil across the
surface. Depending on the size
of your garlic slices, that’s likely
what will go in first as it will take
the longest to soften. The timing
in cooking this recipe is the most
crucial part, so start boiling your
pasta water if you haven't already.

Once the garlic starts to
soften, add your red onion. I
like to work the white wine in
portions, so now is a good time to
start slowly adding some to the

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sauce, one splash at a time.

When the red onion is close
to starting to cook, add in your
minced chili pepper. Keep stirring
and adding olive oil or wine to
avoid burning.

Add in your cherry tomatoes,
then your olives, and, once the
tomatoes start to cook and soften,
add in your shrimp. The shrimp
will only need about three to five
minutes to heat up and soak in
all your flavours, so make sure the
rest of the ingredients are cooked
or just about finished before
throwing them in! Now is also a
good time to add in your Italian
seasoning and fresh basil (whole
or sliced thin). Because of the
powerful tastes of the pepper, the
garlic, the wine, and the olives,
you can be light-handed with the
seasoning. Once the shrimp is
done, turn the heat down to low,
stirring occasionally.

The pasta water should be
boiling, so it’s time to cook your
capellini. Fresh capellini should
only take about 2-3 minutes to
cook, so don’t walk away from the
stove! You want your pasta to be
tender but with a little firmness
to it, so if you aren't sure, take
a fork and taste-test the pasta
periodically to check the texture.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain
it and return it to the pot, adding
a little more olive oil as you do
to prevent sticking. Back on the
stove, add your sauce to your
pasta and stir well.

When serving, add some feta
on top of the pasta, as well as the
rest of your fresh basil. Serve with
a glass of some Italian white wine
and enjoy!

     

Essie Silk

 

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Image via Essie

Watercolour Kits

> New nails for summer

Lauren Kelly
Assistant Editor

 

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recently discovered the new

Silk Watercolour polishes
from Essie, which promised the
ability to easily create beautiful
watercolour nail art. I had to
give it a test run, so I tried a
different pattern on each nail,
some that were shown on the
box, some just freehand.

I tried the Silk Watercolour
Kit One, which included warm
shades, and Kit Two, which
included cool tones. Each set
comes with one full-sized bottle
of “White Page” as a base, and
then three smaller bottles of the
different colours. I definitely
preferred the colours in Two,
which included a soft blue, a
turquoise, and a deep pink. One
included a soft pink and purple,
both of which I like, but I was
not a fan of the bright yellow as
it didn’t match with the softness
of the other colours. Although
each set is made to work on its
own, you could easily mix and
match the colours if you owned
both sets to create even more
looks—and you can even layer
them to create new shades.
These polishes also held up
incredibly well on my nails. |
used two coats of “White Page”
but did not use a top or base
coat. Still, as of my writing this,
each of my nails has lasted a full
48 hours with no chips, which is
very rare for me.

The formula for the colours
is very thin in order to create
the watercolour look, and it
succeeds well. The colours were
fun to experiment with, and

were easy to layer to achieve
different effects. However, in
order to get pretty much any

of the looks they included on
the boxes, you would need to
use specialized tools or actual
paintbrushes. Due to the size
of the brush, it is very difficult
to paint the small patterns
accurately. Each box comes
with instructions on the back to
create one look, so I attempted
both. Two has instructions for
making flowers that seemed
fairly simple, but dabbing the
polish on with the large brush
just created big dots, not the
soft, wider petals shown in the
pictures. The instructions in
One, which involved a simpler,
swirly sunset pattern, were
much easier—but still came out
far worse than the one shown
on the box when using the stock
brush.

When used alone on a nail,
these polishes look beautiful.
The layering of the white with
the sheerer colour provides a
very light, summery look, and
the watercolour appearance
makes them have a more playful
look. I would recommend
them for this alone, because for
about $16 you get three different
options for solid nails alone.
Paired with the ability to create
so many different patterns and
looks, even if some require
alternate tools, these kits offer
plenty of value for the money
you are spending. I would
recommend these to casual
nail polish users and more
experienced and artistic ones
alike. There is truly something
for everyone here—as long as
you like the watercolour look!