Italian Sausage and Rock Shrimp Pasta

Rock shrimp has a very hard shell (“hard as a rock”, hence the name) and tastes like lobster. A previous recipe used rock shrimp, Chicken and Rock Shrimp with Winter Melon (冬瓜蝦仁雞, Dung¹ Gwaa¹ Haa¹ Jan⁴ Gai¹), and for this recipe, thin spaghetti was used together with hot Italian sausage to create a pasta dish. As is usual for my pasta recipes, I use a wok to stir fry the pasta before adding the sauce. Making a pasta dish is no different to me than making chow mein – the techniques are the same, I’m just using a different sauce to make the noodles.

 

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Rock shrimp meat, shelled and deveined
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1 lb.	500 g.	Hot or mild Italian sausage
1 lb.	500 g.	Thin spaghetti or your favorite pasta
½ cup	125 ml.	Pasta cooking liquid

 

Sauce Ingredients

6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic, sliced into thin pieces
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup	250 ml.	One bottle of your favorite pasta sauce
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	White wine
		Extra virgin olive oil

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
		Colander
8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions

1. Hot or mild Italian sausage can be used to make this dish. If using Italian sausage with casings, remove the casings from the sausages.
2. Rock shrimp, which taste like lobster, were used to make this dish, but any shrimp can be used. If using frozen shrimp, thaw in the refrigerator overnight in a covered container. Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator, and wash, shell, and devein the shrimp. Rock shrimp might require scissors to remove the shell. Mix the shrimp meat with ginger crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil and allow to marinate for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Slice the garlic into thin pieces and put into a small bowl. Place the red chili flakes into the bowl with the garlic. The amount of garlic and red chili flakes to use in this dish depends upon personal taste, so feel free to reduce or increase the amount.
4. Open the container of marinara sauce.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the pasta in a pot according to the instructions on the package and until the pasta are al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander and set aside. If ready-made or fresh pasta are used, “fluff” the pasta to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of pasta into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over medium- to medium-high heat before adding oil. Add the Italian sausage to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and brown, breaking up any chunks that form. Transfer the sausage to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over medium- to medium-high heat before adding oil and then the bowl with the garlic and red pepper flakes. Quickly stir fry the garlic and red pepper flakes until fragrant before adding more oil and then the shrimp meat. Stir fry all the ingredients together until the shrimp just turn pink and then add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Remove the contents of the wok to the bowl with the sausage.
4. Reheat the wok over medium- to medium-high heat before adding more oil and then the pasta. Stir fry the pasta before adding the contents of the bowl with the sausage and shrimp. Stir fry the ingredients together before adding the pasta liquid and pasta sauce. The amount of pasta sauce can be tailored to your preference, so the amount of pasta sauce can be increased or decreased. Mix the ingredients in the wok together before putting the cooked ingredients in a serving plate. Serve with Garlic Garlic Bread.