Erica De Mane

Recipe below: Buddy’s Bucatini with Shrimp and Sicilian Pesto

Having my beloved kitty Buddy die during this virus lockdown added a huge extra layer of loneliness, grief, and confusion to the situation. Last night we buried his ashes in our little backyard flower garden, now called Buddy’s garden. A thought occurred to me while watering the garden afterward. If I watered Buddy’s ashes enough, he would grow back. He’d come back, full and healthy. It was just one of those fleeting thoughts.

After the burial we celebrated by preparing one of Buddy’s favorite foods, shrimp.  Buddy loved seafood of any kind. He sniffed it out the second I walked in from the store with it. But he was picky. It had to be super fresh. Day-old calamari was quickly examined and then ignored (the haughty walk-away). We called him Mr. Freschissima. A cat who understood the necessity of food perfection as much as I do.

This sweet-smelling wild-caught shrimp (Buddy would surely have approved) got tossed with bucatini and a Sicilian pesto. Sicilian style pesto is delicious, but it’s not normally much to look at. It’s made by grinding raw tomatoes, almonds, garlic, basil, sometimes mint, and olive oil in a mortar until you have a rough reddish-brown paste. I chopped all the ingredients separately and then combined them, resulting in a tidier look. The taste was also brighter, less homogenized.

This recipe is for you, Buddy. I’ll keep working on my seafood cooking, perfecting it, in celebration of you.

Buddy’s Bucatini with Shrimp and Sicilian Pesto

(Serves 4)

1½ pounds large shrimp, shelled and deveined (but save the shells to make a little broth)
Extra-virgin olive oil
A few splashes of rosé wine
Salt
Piment d’Espelette
2 pints of sweet grape tomatoes, cut in half, also drained briefly if they seem really watery
A big handful of really fresh, blanched almonds, lightly toasted and then roughly chopped
1 small fresh garlic clove, minced
1 pound bucatini
A palmful of fresh spearmint leaves, chopped
A palmful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
A palmful of wild fennel fronds, chopped (or a big pinch of fennel pollen)
2 tablespoons grated grana Padano cheese

Get out a small saucepan, and set it over medium heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil. Add the shrimp shells, and stir them around until they turn pink, about 2 minutes. Add a splash of rosé wine and about a cup and a half of water. Add a little salt and some piment. Cook at a low boil until it’s reduced by half. Strain the shrimp broth into a small bowl, covering it to keep it warm.

Set up a pot of pasta cooking water, and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.

Get out a big pasta serving bowl. Put in it the tomatoes, the almonds, and the garlic. Season with salt and pimenton, and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, stirring everything around.

Drop the bucatini into the water.

Set up a large sauté pan over high heat. Add a big drizzle of olive oil. When hot, add the shrimp, spreading them out in one layer. Season with salt and pimenton, and cook, without moving them around, until they start to go pink, 2 minutes or so. Turn them over and quickly cook their other side, about another minute. Add a splash of rosé, letting it bubble for a few second. Pour the shrimp with pan juices into the bowl with the tomatoes. Add the reserved shrimp broth.

Drain the bucatini, and add it to the bowl. Add all the herbs, a drizzle of fresh olive oil, and the grana Padano. Toss gently, tasting for seasoning and adding more salt or pimenton if you think it can use it. Serve right away.