Recipe: Pasta with burst tomatoes and shrimp

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One of my best food memories is of a meal I had in Puglia. It was at a winery and we had a simple lunch that began with focaccia studded with tomatoes, the winery's olive oil, olives and the wonderful Puglian burrata cheese that oozes cream as soon as you cut into it. This was followed by pasta with tomatoes and shrimp. Because tomatoes were just out of season they were flash cooked so their flavour intensified. The shrimp were fresh out of the water. We ended the meal with taralli, a type of Italian bread stick, and bitter black coffee. It was magic.

Because I am able to purchase farm-raised fresh Ontario shrimp, that pasta gave me the idea for this recipe. I never realized that shrimp could be raised in vats and really anywhere – if you can provide the right conditions. These Ontario shrimp were firm, juicy and had lots of flavour, plus all the perks of being local.

It is important to cook pasta al dente. Not only does it taste better, but it might actually be healthier for you. Some sources claim that it has a lower glycemic index than overcooked pasta. We tried this with both long and short pasta and found that long pasta pulled the ingredients together better, but you can use short if that's what you have on hand.

You can use Swiss chard, kale, rapini or dandelion greens in this dish. We used a mixture. Breadcrumbs are used often in pasta dishes when there is a seafood ingredient to give added texture, because cheese is not traditionally used with seafood.

Making it? Instagram the results with the hashtag #cooklikelucy.