Need Pasta Recipe

[Juliebove]

My husband's family is Italian Catholic and traditionally they serve the seven fishes for Christmas Eve dinner. My husband's favorite is one that was simply oil (MIL seemed to use Wesson...eek!), angel hair pasta, shrimp (I think it was canned) and a ton of garlic. She called it "eye ah oy", but she has a reputation for pronouncing things wrong.

He would not eat this on Christmas Eve though, preferring to scoop up what was leftover in the bottom of the dish because that is where all the garlic settled.

Now personally I didn't like this dish at all and neither did my SIL who AFAIK did make it once. She said she felt like it needed cheese or something. I agreed. I do not like shrimp or garlic. My MIL didn't put much shrimp in it at all, most likely because she couldn't afford it.

I have asked some Italians about this and they think it would be Aglio e Olio. I have looked up recipes for this but most call for hot peppers and many call for cheese. I have yet to see one with shrimp in it.

And when I do a search for garlic, shrimp pasta I get recipes for Shrimp Scampi. This is what I have made in past years, taking some liberty with the recipes because they all seem to have a lot more steps and ingredients than what I saw my MIL and SIL do.

I know that asking my MIL would seem the easiest thing to do but she is now in a nursing home with no phone and in a different state. Worse yet, her medical conditions are such that she can not talk so as to be understood. So that is out of the question. SIL also lives in the same other state and is next to impossible to get ahold of either by phone or e-mail. And I am not even sure she would remember how to make the stuff. She made it years ago and since she disliked it so much it is not likely she ever made it again.

My husband has never complained about the shrimp and pasta dishes I have come up with in past years and another SIL even liked what I made a few years ago. But I know they are not the same as what my MIL made. For instance they often call for butter, chicken broth, parsley and yes even the hot pepper flakes. Which my husband likely would not complain about because he loves spicy hot foods. But I wish to try to recreate what she did.

And now to further compound the problems, I have to make this gluten-free. I believe when I last made it, it was not gluten-free. I do not know of any gluten-free angel hair pasta. So I can use spaghetti. I guess that will work. And I will probably use a rice pasta because of the more neutral flavor. But I guess what I need is a way to infuse that garlic flavor through the pasta. I can see why the use of chicken stock or butter would help with this. Because the garlic is cooked in it. When my MIL made it, as best I can recall as she described to me, she used just a bit of oil to cook the garlic, then tossed some cold oil in with the pasta. I believe she likely used the Wesson as opposed to olive oil because it too was cheaper. She was a very frugal woman. And she did come up with some strange foods. For all I know this could be one of them.

So I guess my question is... Has anyone here made such a dish? If so do you have a recipe? I would probably use enough pasta for 6 even though he will likely be the only one eating it. He is a big eater and with stuff like this that he really likes, he will just eat it day after day, cold from the fridge. Thanks!

[Cathey]

Sounds like your MIL made Aglio e Olio and just added shrimp. If I use 1/2# pasta I use 10-12 garlic cloves slice thin in 1/2 cup EVOO, heat low-med till garlic starts to brown (don't burn it will be bitter). Garlic flavor has a lot to do with the freshness of the garlic, if you have any green stems slice garlic in half and remove them. I prefer corn pasta the rice gets too mushy and remember each pasta absorbs differently.

[Juliebove]

Sounds like your MIL made Aglio e Olio and just added shrimp. If I use 1/2# pasta I use 10-12 garlic cloves slice thin in 1/2 cup EVOO, heat low-med till garlic starts to brown (don't burn it will be bitter). Garlic flavor has a lot to do with the freshness of the garlic, if you have any green stems slice garlic in half and remove them. I prefer corn pasta the rice gets too mushy and remember each pasta absorbs differently.

Thanks!

[Takala]

Here is one, prawns e Aglio e Olio

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[Juliebove]

Here is one, prawns e Aglio e Olio

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Thanks!