This Spaghetti Nero with Garlic Shrimp tastes like it comes straight from a fine dining restaurant. The wonderful squid ink pasta is coated in a delicious garlic butter sauce and topped with juicy seared shrimp. Such an elegant and easy dinner, perfect for date night or for entertaining. You can use fresh arugula/rocket or spinach in the dish and the addition of red pepper flakes is totally optional!
Peel the garlic and slice it paper thin (see note1) and set it to one side for later.
Place a large pan of water onto boil. Once it is bubbling add a generous amount of salt and cook the squid ink pasta according to the package instructions. (Reserve a cup of the pasta water before draining)
Place a large frying pan over medium high heat and once hot add the olive oil and the shrimp. Cook for 1 minutes on each side.
Add in the butter cubes, garlic, oregano and chilli flakes. The butter should melt instantly. Pour in ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water and allow the sauce to bubble gently for a further 2 minutes. Season the sauce generously with salt and pepper.
Add in the arugula/spinach.
Drain the pasta mix into the butter sauce, stir to combine, adding more cooking water to loosen the pasta if needed.
Serve immediately, garnished with parmesan, if desired.
Notes
Slicing the garlic rather than mincing it, means it won't burn in the butter whilst the shrimp cook.