Dinner Party!!!

So I decided to invite a few friends over recently for a small dinner party.  While I enjoy having friends over and enjoy setting a good table I have to admit that always have a little frantic energy trying to decide what to make.  Whenever I have people over I want to cook something that's easy enough to make so that I'm not too exhausted after spending hours in the kitchen to enjoy the wonderful party I put together, but elegant enough to impress my guest. 

So I figured that a pasta dish was the way to go.  Pasta is pretty simple to make and doesn't take that much time to prepare.  Plus you can easily fancy it with the ingredients you add to it.  For me, whenever I think of fancy elegant meals I always think about seafood like crab and shrimp so I decided to incorporate them both in this recipe.  Fortunately all of the guest I invited over eat seafood so this was a perfect meal.  However I know that many people don't eat seafood and the great thing about this meal is that it can easily be adapted for non seafood eaters by swapping out the shrimp and crab for chicken.  I have made the chicken version of this meal for my dad, who doesn't eat seafood and it went over just a well as the shrimp and crab version.  However for the purposes of this blog and because of my own personal taste preference I'll be posting the seafood version.  So here's the recipe for my Cajun Shrimp and Crab Pasta, serve it at your next dinner party or intimate meal with a side salad and a glass of wine and its sure to be a hit.

Cajun Shrimp and Crab Pasta

Ingredients                     

• 1 box (16 ounces) fettuccine pasta
• 1 lb shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• 1 16oz can on lump crab meat    
• 1 large onion chopped  
• 1/2 cup (each) chopped yellow and orange pepper
• 3/4 cup grape tomatoes halved   
• 1 tbsp. chopped garlic            
• 1 1/2 cups half and half                     
• 1/4 cup  cream cheese (softened)
• 2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese
• 2 teaspoons  cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 3 tbsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 cup scallions
• Shredded Parmesan                     

Directions

Heat a large pot of salted water for pasta, once water comes to a boil add pasta and cook for 15-20 mins until al dente, then drain.

Heat a large sauté pan, add 2 tbsp. oil.  Season shrimp with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning, add to pan and cook for 3-4 mins and remove from pan. Add onions, peppers and garlic to pan cook for 5-6 mins, add grape tomatoes and cook for 2- 3 mins then add crab meat until just heated. Remove from pan. In sauté pan, heat half and half over medium heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and whisk in cream cheese, Italian cheese blend, and 3 tbsp. of Cajun seasoning until melted Stir in cornstarch-water mixture and return pan to heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until smooth. Add shrimp and crab/onion/pepper mixture to pan, simmer for 2-3 mins. Sprinkle scallions over top of dish  Add pasta to plate, top with shrimp crab sauce, garnish with shredded parmesan cheese.

Enjoy and Keep SIMPLY COOKING!!!!