Spicy Pasta with Shrimp and Tomatoes

fish sauce lime onion parsley pasta sambal oelek shrimp tomato basics

Rick Martinez

4 Servings

Source

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

1 pound large shrimp (about 20), peeled, deveined, divided

12 ounces fideo, vermicelli, or angel hair pasta, broken into 3-inch pieces

1 medium red onion, chopped

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons sambal oelek

1½ cups canned whole peeled tomatoes (about 10 tomatoes), plus purée

¼ cup parsley, chopped

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

Lime wedges (for serving)

Method

Real Talk: If you really, really, truly don’t have time to cook and want to shave off 15 minutes of prep time, buy cleaned and deveined shrimp. Boom. You are so welcome.

Heat oil in a large pot over high. Cook half of shrimp until lightly browned and just cooked through, about 1 minute per side; transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Repeat with remaining shrimp; set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-high and cook pasta, stirring to coat in oil, until noodles begin to brown and smell toasted, about 4 minutes. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is just tender, about 4 minutes. Add fish sauce and sambal oelek and cook, stirring, until sambal turns brick red, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, breaking up with a spoon, then stir in 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until pasta is tender and coated with sauce, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley; season with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta mixture to a serving platter; top with shrimp. Serve with lime wedges alongside.