A long time ago, in a leafy suburb far, far away, I shared a large house with four friends from college.
Now, one would think that, five folk, all with at least bachelor degrees, would all be able to manage basic kitchen tasks. And most could, but, sadly, one housemate was uncertain of the concept of how to cook pasta (does one boil water?) – I only wish I was kidding. Then, another housemate stepped in and decided that some tutorials were needed.
And so, they made Tetrazzini – where we discovered that J was uncertain of the whole process to turn pasta edible.
This is not that Tetrazzini – which was quite serviceable.
This Tetrazzini features pesto filled tortellini and shrimp scampi. A great improvement, over the original, if you ask me.
INGREDIENTS
•1 lb pasta (I used dried tortellini)
•8 tbsp unsalted butter
•1 shallot, chopped
•4 cloves garlic, minced
•1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
•1 cup dry white or rose wine
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1/4 cup flour
•3 cups heavy cream
•1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
•Seasoned Salt
•Black pepper
•Aleppo pepper
•1 cup grated Parmesan
•1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
•Chopped fresh parsley
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Cook your pasta of choice according to package instructions and set aside.
Heat your oven to 450º and apply cooking spray to a three quart baking dish.
Melt two tablespoons of the butter in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, then add the shallots, two cloves of garlic, and the red pepper flakes.
Cook, stirring, for about four minutes, until the shallot is tender.
Stir in the wine, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and cook 
for five or six minutes, until the liquid has been cooked off.
Melt another two tablespoons of the butter in the pan, then add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for another minute or two, until the flour is cooked.
Slowly whisk in the cream, then the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of Seasoned Salt, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of Aleppo pepper. Cook, stirring often, for seven or eight minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
Stir the reserved cooked past into the sauce and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
Melt the remaining four tablespoons of butter, then stir in another 1/2 teaspoon each of the Seasoned Salt, black pepper, Aleppo pepper, and the remaining two cloves of garlic.
Toss this butter mixture with the shrimp to coat, then arrange in a single layer on top of the pasta in the casserole.
Bake, uncovered, for about ten minutes, until the shrimp is cooked to a nice pink.
Remove from the oven and allow to rest for ten minutes before sprinkling with the parsley and serving with some crusty bread and your wine of choice.
Now this is how Tetrazzini is done!