This dish is excellent served as a main course or as a dressing for pasta. (Toss the pasta with the sauce and top the plates with shrimp.) It is also delicious spooned over hot Soft Polenta (page 346).

　　

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

　　6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

　　2 1/2 pounds jumbo shrimp (about 30), peeled and deveined

　　Salt

　　One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), cored and coarsely crushed

　　1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper

　　8 fresh basil leaves, torn into quarters

　　2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley

　　

Step 1

Heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook, shaking the pan, until golden, about 1 minute. Add as many shrimp as fit in a single layer with some space between each. (If you crowd the shrimp, they will steam in their own juices rather than get crunchy with a lightly browned exterior.) Cook, turning once, until lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt to taste.

　　

Step 2

With a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a plate, leaving as much garlic as possible in the pan. Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the tomatoes into the skillet, season with salt and crushed red pepper, and bring to a vigorous boil. Lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and cook until lightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, basil, and parsley and cook until the shrimp are heated through, just a few seconds.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.