Lemon Fettucine with Peppery Shrimp

This recipe is based on one from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, Citrus: A Cookbook (1992).  It's a very light tasting dish.  The lemon of the fettucine and the butter of the sauce make a nice complement to the shrimp.

Lemon Fettucine with Peppery Shrimp

Lemon fettucine

1 cup semolina flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice + extra as needed

Using a mixer with the bread beater, blend all the ingredients.

If the mixture is too dry add additional lemon juice, 1 tsp at a time.  Blend for 5 minutes after each teaspoon you add.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until the dough is fairly smooth.  Dust with additional flour as needed if the dough is still sticky.

Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside for 30 minutes.

I used a manual pasta maker to make the fettucine. If you are using an electric pasta machine, follow the manufacturer's instructions.  Process the dough through the machine.  Will yield 1 lb of pasta.

I rolled out small segments of the dough to make it easier to feed through the machine.

To prepare pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the fettucine, 1 tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of oil to the water.

Stir the pasta gently until the water returns to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes, or until al dente.  Drain.

Peppered shrimp

4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 lb large shrimp (approx. 16-18), shelled and deveined
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
sea salt, to taste
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Put the olive oil and butter in a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Add garlic to the skillet and saute a few seconds.

Add your shrimp to the skillet and saute for 1 minute on each side.

Add the peppers and saute for another  2 minutes or until the shrimp is opaque. Remove from the heat.

When the pasta is ready, spoon the peppered shrimp on the pasta.  Garnish with some additional black pepper and lemon wedges if you'd like.

NOTES

My pasta dough was very dry.  Both climate and humidity will factor into how well you mix comes together.  I ended up adding about an extra 2/3 cup of liquids (I used lemon juice, oil and water) and I probably still could have added a bit more.

I was thinking that if you wanted to serve the fettucine as a pasta by itself, you could add about 1 tbsp of cracked black pepper to the mix to make a nice lemon pepper pasta.

The shrimp was very light and simply prepared.  If you wanted to zazz it up a bit, I was thinking you could throw the shrimp on a grill and brown them up then add them into the pepper-butter sauce to coat them.  It would give the dish an extra layer of flavor depth.