Shrimp Creole’s Devilish Brother: Fra Diavolo
I got a gumbo spoon for Christmas and wanted to give it an inaugural stir, so I pulled my trusted source for Louisiana fare: my family cookbook.
I turned to the section with the gumbo recipes and went down a rabbit hole when I noticed a recipe from a cousin for shrimp fra diavolo. Though it’s a general Italian-American dish – the name translates as the “Devil’s brother” – it includes nice heat and a seafood feature that makes it a dish popular in New Orleans restaurants.
So, here’s a fascinating read: pull some gumbo recipes, then shrimp etouffee, then on to shrimp creole, then fra diavolo, and finish with arrabbiata (the latter translating as “angry” in Italian).
From the soothing and delightful gumbo over rice on one end to pasta dish names that translate as the “Devil’s brother” and “angry” on the other, you get a nice progression from comfort food to stimulating dishes that have a nice, spicy kick.
It’s an interesting spectrum with gumbo as a purely roux-based dish to arrabbiata with a purely tomato gravy-based dish, with the ingredients from the five dishes generally meeting in the middle at shrimp creole. Of course there are vegetable and flavor changes, as well, but you can easily see the overlap.
I decided that, instead of gumbo, I would give the fiery shrimp fra diavolo recipe a try. I looked at more recipes online and found their common elements – lots of garlic, white wine, basil, and red pepper. Sometimes onion. Sometimes Parmesan.
I leaned heavily on Ina Garten’s version. She opts for ready-made Rao’s prepared arrabbiata for a quicker meal with great flavor, and since Rao’s is available at Wally World, I was on board with that. And since I couldn’t find any fresh basil, I opted for prepared pesto.
The result is a beautiful pasta dish with strong flavors. And I will have to break in that new gumbo spoon another day.
Enjoy …
Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Appx. 6 - 8 servings
3 TB olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, diced
2 TB garlic, minced
1 – 2 tsp red pepper flakes (see note about heat)
1/2 cup white wine
24 oz. Rao’s arrabbiata or 3 cups homemade spicy marinara
3 TB basil pesto
16 oz. linguine
1 – 1 ½ pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Parmesan, shaved
Directions
1. Put heavily-salted pasta water on to boil.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan on medium/high heat. Add onion and sauté for about 5 minutes until it’s soft. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for an additional 2 minutes stirring constantly and making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
3. Add white wine and reduce heat. Simmer for about 3 minutes until wine reduces by about half.
4. Get your linguine boiling in your pasta pot. It will probably take 10 or so minutes.
5. Add 3 cups of arrabbiata and basil pesto to your saucepan and bring to a simmer. Salt to taste. Add a little more wine and/or a little more pesto, to taste.
6. When the pasta still has about 5 minutes to go, add your shrimp to your tomato sauce making sure all the shrimp are submerged. If the tomato sauce is not bubbling, bring the heat back up.
7. Reserve about a half cup of pasta water. Drain your pasta and return to the pasta pot.
8. Make sure that your shrimp are pink and cooked through and pour sauce into pasta pot and mix well with the linguine. If the sauce needs thinning, add pasta water little by little and continue to stir. Make sure all pasta is coated.
9. Top with Parmesan and serve with Italian bread and a nice salad.
A note about the heat: 1 tsp of red pepper flakes is subjectively mild to me. Go for 2 tsp if you want to make sure you get some nice heat. My cousin adds up to 3 TB, but I'm not sure she has any taste buds left.