Hawaii was amazing.

Spectacular.

Too good beyond words.

I’ll probably share bits and pieces of the trip for awhile because my heart just doesn’t want to let it go.

But I won’t talk about it every day, because I know how exciting it is to look at other peoples’ vacation pictures.  (Actually, I might be one of the few people who actually enjoys it.  But I’m weird like that.)

So tonight, to celebrate being back in my own, newly-remodeled kitchen after nearly 24 hours of travel to get here, we cooked dinner for ourselves.

Since this blog is called DomesticatING Kate – not DomesticatED Kate, I’m going to share with you another recipe I found somewhere else.  I can’t make these things up, people.  I’m just not that good.  BUT, if I find something good, I like to share it with you.

Here is the original recipe.  Extra crispy.  This food blogger calls herself Cookin’ Canuck, and hopefully she doesn’t mind me sharing her delicious recipe with you.  Even with my inferior photography and cooking skills, this still turned out great.  If you want to really impress someone with a restaurant-tasting dinner, give this one a try.

I didn’t change it much – just halved it (which still made more than enough for the hubs and me).  In spite of the fact that it didn’t contain any butter or heavy cream (two major proponents of tastiness in my book), it was still absolutely delicious-o.  Oh, and it only contains minuscule amounts of cheese (again, unusual for me).

Here’s what you need to make it the way I did – except remember to cut it in half if you’re cooking for less than a family of 4:

• 1 lb. linguini
• 1/2 lb. fresh asparagus (cut off the thick white parts at the base and cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (I did NOT halve the garlic – according to me, you can never have too much garlic)
• 1 pinch crushed red chili flakes (I actually used red pepper flakes, since that’s what I had on hand)
• 3/4 cup dry white wine (I used an inexpensive chardonnay, since that’s what I had open from last night.  To cope with the jet lag.  Yes, that’s it.  To cope with the jet lag.)
• 3/4 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I bought the pre-peeled, deveined and cooked stuff.  Easier and on sale.  Didn’t halve this either.)
• 12 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced (This comes in a dry pouch or in a jar of marinade.  I bought the jar.)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• 1/4 cup (packed) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1.  Start by getting some salted water boiling so you can cook your noodles.

2.  while your water gets going, chop up the asparagus.  The hubs was good at that.  (We only used about half this pile, by the way.  I didn’t realize until we got going that we should halve the recipe.)  Set the asparagus aside – you won’t be seeing it again until your linguine is almost al dente.

3.  If you have frozen shrimp, thaw it according to the package directions.  We ran ours under water for a few minutes, then the hubs pulled off the tails.

4.  Your water is hopefully boiling by now (or close to it), so go ahead and throw in your linguini.  Cook according to package directions.  (I set my timer for 10 minutes – my Life ADD causes me to forget about minuscule dinner details like pasta cooking, so this step is imperative for me.  I also wanted to make sure I added the asparagus at the right time so I wouldn’t overcook it.  No one likes mushy asparagus.)

4.  Next go ahead and mince yourself up some garlic.  And slice your sundried tomatoes (I didn’t drain them completely, but let them sit in some of the yummy garlic bits and capers.  I think it probably added to the sauce immensely).

I realize these look a uncomfortably close to the lungs you unearthed from the frogs you dissected in high school, but I promise you they smell and taste much better.  Not that I ever tasted frog lungs.

5.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Throw in your garlic and pinch of dried red pepper.  Cook for about a minute.

6.  Pour in your white wine and simmer 1-2  minutes.  (You might want to take a sip of the wine, first.  You know, just to test it.)

7.  Add the shrimp and stir 1-2 minutes until it’s pink and cooked.  If it’s pre-cooked (like mine), just stir a minute or so until it’s heated.  In retrospect, this would’ve been a bit easier to eat if I had roughly chopped the shrimp first.

8.  If your pasta is about 1 minute away from al dente, throw in your asparagus.  Cook for about a minute, then drain.

9.  Add the sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper to your shrimp pan.

10.  Pour your shrimp/asparagus/sundried tomato/wine/garlic sauce to the pasta and stir.

11.  Add the parmesan cheese and parsley (the hubs chopped parsley fresh from our garden!).

12.  Eat up!  For how easy this was, it was surprisingly yummy (despite my yellow photography).  We will definitely be making this again.  Even if you think you don’t like asparagus or tomatoes – open your mind to something a little different.  The hubs, for all his claim to not liking tomatoes (he still won’t eat them raw), gobbled this down.

Oh, and don’t forget to sprinkle on a bit more cheese.

Yum!  Don’t let my dark and yellow photography turn you off – this stuff will impress anyone.  Thanks, Cookin’ Canuck!  I always knew I liked Canada.