Shrimp and Tortellini in Cajun Cream Sauce

Shrimp and Tortellini in Cajun Cream Sauce

Shrimp and tortellini and Cajun cream sauce. Keep a few key ingredients on hand and you can toss this dinner together in no time.

You can use frozen, refrigerated, or dried tortellini in this dish – just cook it two minutes shorter than package directions and let it  finish cooking in the sauce.

Choose your weapon…um I mean your TORTELLINI!

I keep dried, cheese filled tortellini in my pantry so I can make this recipe or my chicken and broccoli tortellini recipe any time. Refrigerated tortellini has a shorter shelf life but is very tasty. Try a few brands to see which one your family likes.

What makes this Cajun?

While this isn’t a traditional Cajun dish, cayenne pepper and garlic are flavors reminiscent of Louisiana cooking. I love a little heat in a cream sauce so I add quite a bit of cayenne when I make this. It’s not “burn your mouth heat”, its more like “warm the back of your throat” heat.

Demetra Overton Sweet Savant

Shrimp and Tortellini in Cajun Cream Sauce

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 28 minutes mins

Total Time 38 minutes mins

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 bag fresh frozen or dried cheese filled tortellini
• 1 tablespoon of canola or grapeseed oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• one 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1-1/2 pounds medium shrimp peeled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 or 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper depending on how hot you like it
• 6-8 ounces baby spinach leaves

Method

 

1. Cook the tortellini according to package directions however reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes
2. Pour the oil into a separate skillet set over medium heat and saute the garlic for 30 seconds
3. Pour in the tomatoes and cream and simmer for 10 minutes to let the sauce reduce and thicken
4. Season the shrimp with salt, paprika and cayenne pepper
5. stir the shrimp and drained tortellini into the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes
6. Stir in the baby spinach and serve