Shrimp Butter Pasta
an extra special and comforting buttered noodle
Have You Eaten Yet? Here’s a new recipe from my kitchen to yours that I hope you’ll love! For more recipes, you can pre-order my next cookbook, Chinese Enough, or purchase Mooncakes and Milk Bread for all things Chinese Baking!
I remember the first time I was introduce to the humble buttered noodle. It was in middle school and a friend during lunch period told me about how much she loved her mom’s buttered noodles and that she could eat them everyday. Having grown up in a Chinese American family eating primarily Chinese food, buttered noodles was a completely foreign concept to me. But it intrigued me and sounded simple enough! I knew we had butter at home and the kind of parmesan that came in a green canister so we were already 2/3 of the way there. I went home and requested that we make buttered noodles for dinner! My mom quickly ran out to buy some swirly egg noodles and I got to work.
I’ll admit that I had no idea what I was doing but I tossed the noodles in some melted butter and showered my bowl with as much parmesan as my heart told me to. It tasted amazing and I understood the appeal. A love for simple buttered noodles was sparked. Buttered noodles didn’t make their way into my family’s meal rotation but I would return to this dish occasionally if I was just cooking for myself, slightly tweaking the butter to noodle ratio every time and maybe experimenting by adding a splash of soy sauce in there.
In more recent years, I’ve taken my buttered noodles in different directions while still keeping them simple and comforting. In Chinese Enough, I have a recipe for San Francisco-style Garlic Noodles, which are essentially stir-fried noodles with loads of garlic, butter, and oyster sauce. It is one of my favorite recipes in the book and I make them often for when friends come over to dinner.
I’ve been gradually adjusting and working on this shrimp butter pasta recipe for a few months to get it just right. Even a simple recipe takes time! Last week, I shared a Tom Yum Focaccia, which utilizes shrimp paste in the tom yum sauce. I introduced it as one of my pantry/kitchen staples and if you don’t already have some in your kitchen you should go out and buy some! If you love cooking with anchovies or fish sauce, you’re going to love shrimp paste. It is far less funky and tastes sweeter and more aromatic. A spoonful added to a soup broth, marinade, stir-fry, or pasta instantly adds a tremendous amount of flavor. Whenever I show a potentially new-to-you ingredient I like to share a few recipe options so you don’t feel like you can only use it to make Tom Yum Focaccia every time.
This buttery and shrimpy pasta starts off by gently sizzling or blooming the shrimp paste in oil to release all the delicious aromas and flavors. Then you add some garlic and chili flake to soften and impart their flavor into the oil. The addition of starchy pasta water starts to form our sauce and will help it cling to the pasta. Once you add in the noodles, toss to coat in the sauce and then your butter. The butter will gradually melt and emulsify, creating this delicately light and creamy shrimp butter sauce. This sauce is simply so so good. If you have any crusty bread, make sure to dip it into the pan so none of it goes to waste. For a slightly healthier option, I’ll sometimes cook some leafy greens in the leftover pan sauce.
While there’s been a few improvements in my buttered noodle game over the years, the simplicity and comfort of these noodles remain the same. I often turn to these noodles when I’m just cooking for myself because I almost always have all the ingredients and it takes less than 15 minutes to make, so I provided single serving instructions in the recipe along with serving for 4. There’s also nothing wrong with having ample leftovers of butter noodles!
big + small updates!
I’ll be speaking at Cookbook Fest next weekend in Napa! I’m so excited to meet a bunch of my culinary heroes! On the Saturday, I’ll be signing books in the bookshop, selling treats in the bakeshop, and reading an excerpt from Chinese Enough for the closing event. There will be tons of fun events like podcast recordings and panels of your favorite cookbook authors! If you didn’t see me share about it on social media, you can get tickets here and use the code KRISTINA30 for $30 off Saturday tickets!
I baked this ridiculous cake over the weekend for a friend’s birthday party and it might have been the most enjoyable and stress-free cake baking experience ever? I love making birthday cakes and normally request that the birthday person provide some cake preferences so I can surprise them. For this cake I was given “kind childish, funfetti, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, cooking cakes, things that are light and fruity”. So I gave her almost all those things! The cake has a layer of funfetti, funfetti marbled with strawberry cake, and a final layer of strawberry cake. It is covered in cream cheese frosting, topped with a strawberry sugar cookie cake (made with the leftover strawberry compote for the cake), and so many sprinkles.
The garden is looking so good lately and I just want to spend all my free time out there staring at the tomatoes. I’m not an expert gardener but I’ve learned a lot over the last few years of trying to growing my favorite foods. I’ve wanted to share a post about some beginner gardening tips and what has and haven’t worked for me. Let me know if that would interest you!
On Tuesday I celebrated my 2 year wedding and James Beard Award winning anniversary! Still blows my mind that two insanely crazy things happened at the same time. Makes June 11th pretty memorable! We celebrated by cooking dinner at home and eating in the yard because it was a Tuesday and we’ve been a little too social lately… but going out for pizza on Friday!
Hope you have a great week and eat well!
Shrimp Butter Pasta
Serves 1:
4 oz spaghetti or bucatini
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp shrimp paste
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup starchy pasta water
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
Finely chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
Or
Serves 4:
16 oz spaghetti or bucatini
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp shrimp paste
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup starchy pasta water
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
Finely chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.
While the pasta is boiling, heat olive oil and shrimp paste in a large pan over medium low heat. Once the paste is just starting to sizzle, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Continue to gently sizzle until the garlic has softened, about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 cup of starchy pasta water and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Directly transfer the pasta from the water to the pan, a little water on the noodles is perfectly fine (actually preferable). Swirl the pasta into the sauce with a pair of tongs until fully coated. Add the butter and toss to combine until the butter melts and incorporates into the sauce.
Serve the pasta immediately with an optional garnish of chives.
whoa that cake looks insane
What brand shrimp paste do you like?