In Italy art is part of the soul of the country. Its the beautiful glasswork in Venice, the quaint cobblestone streets in Florence, and the colorful fashion in Rome.  When I visited these cities, several years ago, I absorbed as much art as I could around the city.  The art that left it’s greatest impression on me was not the one found in museums, but the one that danced around in my mouth after I took a bite out of  a plate of freshly made  linguine  or devoured a crisp steaming piece of pizza.  In Italy food is not about sustenance – it’s about bringing large families together around a table, it’s taking pride in ingredients, and above all it’s about simplicity.  I ate pastas and pizzas galore and what surprised me the most was that there was nothing complicated in their construction.  Italians let the quality of their ingredients shine through and don’t disguise it or fuse it with complicated and complex combinations.  The burst of sweetness of a cherry tomato in a pasta dish, the subtle addition of sea salt and good quality olive oil to a salad, and the creamy richness of burrata surrounded by delicious fruit, are among many of the little pleasures I enjoyed while I was there not to forget the rich sweet gelatos I seemed to be buying at every street corner!

Years later, I found myself in Manhattan reminiscing about the food I had there and was inspired to create a mediterranean pasta.  I picked up cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, spaghetti/linguine, and some shallots, and shrimp.  I sauteed the shallots in a pan and added fresh garlic and cherry tomatoes letting them blister so that the sweetness would come through in the dish.  I then sauteed the shrimps for a few minutes in the same pan adding salt and pepper for flavoring, tossed in some al dente spaghetti, and then topped it all with some basil, olive oil, and generous shavings of parmesan cheese.  The result was a light, flavorful, and delightfully simple plate of pasta.

Ingredients

• Shrimp (1 lb)
• Linguine/Spaghetti (1/2 packet)
• Cherry tomatoes (1 boc)
• Garlic (2 cloves finely chopped)
• Basil
• Shallots (3 small chopped shallots)
• Parmesan

Directions

1. Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil.  Add the pasta once it is boiling and allow it to cook while you prepare the other part of the dish.
2. Put a few tbsp of oil in a frying pan and sautee the garlic until it starts to brown.  Add the chopped shallots on medium heat.
3. Once the shallots have softened add the cherry tomatoes and cover.  Let them cook until they start to blister and become relatively soft (this brings out their sweetness).
4. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and then add the shrimp to the mixture and cook until they turn pink.  Usually takes only 2 minutes.  Make sure you don’t cook them too long.  Immediately add the pasta using tongs to the frying pan and toss the shrimps and cherry tomatoes so that all the pasta is is coated in the mixture.
5. Take the pasta dish out in  a large bowl and garnish it with bits of basil for flavor and a lovely color and shave (don’t grate) large chunks on your pasta before eating.  Its simple, fresh, and flavorful.