Feisty Fra Diavolo Sauce with Shrimp & Linguini

Although my first post was tacos, I mainly cook italian food. This recipe I really enjoy - it has a bunch of my favorite things in it. Garlic, Spice, Shrimp, Pasta! Yum. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do! 


My Feisty Fra Diavolo sauce is just that FEISTY. If you don't like that much spice adjust the ingredients accordingly. These are not exact measurements, I don't like to be exact when cooking, these measurements are rounded.  

5 to 7 Servings 

• 1 Small Yellow Onion 
• 5 or 6 cloves of Garlic ( minced ) 
• 3 (28 ounce)  Cans of Crushed Tomatoes w Basil 
• 1 (6 ounce) Can Tomato Paste 
• 3/4 a cup of White Wine
• 1 palmful Dried Oregano 
• 1 palmful Dried Parsley
• 2 tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper, Plus a Dash More ( 2 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
• 1/2 cup Fresh Basil 
• Sea Salt
• Cracked Black Pepper   
• Good Olive Oil  
• Splash of Clam Juice
• Half of lemon 

Heat olive oil in the large pan for the sauce over medium heat. Dice and saute the onion, stir frequently until onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper, onion powder, white wine, a splash of clam juice and squeeze the juice out of the lemon. Salt to taste. 

If you like the Fra Diavolo sauce to be especially feisty, and people I mean feisty - A good rule of thumb, add ABOUT a tablespoon of crushed red pepper flakes for every 28 Ounce can of tomatoes you use. If feisty Fra Diavolo isn't your thing, add less -  I'd say only a teaspoon per 28 ounce can. 

I like to let the sauce simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally-  you can serve it as soon as 15 minutes but 45 and longer allows for all the flavors to really come together.

 The longer the sauce cooks the spicier it will get.  10 minutes before serving the sauce, I like to take my immersion blender to the sauce to make it smooth, if you prefer a thicker consistency leave it the way it is. Then I add fresh basil to it. It's all about personal preference. 

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to boil for the pasta. 

While the sauce is simmering and you're waiting for the water to come to a boil, relax and sip your wine - the pasta and shrimp only take a few minutes!

 And what wine should you be sipping?? A lot of wines work well with shrimp but not as many work well with red pepper flakes. The list consists of mainly white wines.  The wine I chose to serve with this Fiesty Fra Diavolo is a Riesling. Chardonnay and Riesling both go really well with garlic but out of the 2 Riesling is better with the crushed red pepper.  Another option we have here is to go with a Rose Champagne, it has enough weight to stand up to the spiciness and the bubbles help complement the heat even more. 

The garlic shrimp recipe I use comes from my favorite NJ Housewife Teresa Giudice. Her cookbook "Skinny Italian" has a lot of great things in it, but in my opinion as she calls it,  "Gorgeous Garlic Shrimp" are amazing.  I use this recipe all the time - over angel hair, in this sauce, with rice.. ANYTHING it is sooo good! 

The only modifications I did to the recipe is add more garlic ( I am the Garlic Goddess after all) and add more shrimp. 

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped - I used about 6 cloves 
• 1 1/2 pounds large (21 to 25) shrimp peeled and deveined - I used 2 pounds 
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

About 5 minutes before you cook the shrimp (which I buy, peeled, deveined, with no tails). I like to let the garlic and oil sit in the pan - no heat just let the flavors say hi to each other. After that -  heat the oil and garlic over medium heat for about a minute (don't let garlic get brown!)  Add the shrimp and cook until pink 4-5 minutes.  Squeeze the lemon juice and add the fresh parsley and there you have it Teresa's Gorg Garlic Shrimp! 

I was eating these shrimp like candy! soo good! 
I kept the shrimp separate from the sauce, once again just personal preference. 

While you're cooking the shrimp the pasta water should be boiling away, add the pasta of your choice - I chose linguini and cook according to the directions on the box. I made 2 boxes  for 5 -7 servings. 

Once the pasta is drained I like to put it in the pot I cooked it in. Add a few spoon fulls of the sauce to it. Then put everything together - first the pasta then ladle 2 or 3 spoon fulls of the sauce - followed by the Gorg Garlic Shrimp and a little basil for garnish.  Or serve it family style with everything in one big serving bowl. Bon Appetit!