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.

Shrimp and Tortellini in Cajun Cream Sauce

Demetra Overton Sweet Savant

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 28 minutes mins

Total Time 38 minutes mins

Servings 4 -6 servings

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

Instructions

 

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