Pesto shrimp angel hair

As some of you know, I've been trying to recreate a pasta dish I had at a restaurant for quite some time now, and have come up with some very tasty delights during my endeavor...this is one of them. Actually, the original dish had absolutely no pesto in it, but what can really go wrong with pesto? I had some prepared pesto left over from the girls day where we made pesto alfredo cream sauce and decided to use it up in another insanely chow-able pasta dish...

Super simple, and although it's a little higher in calorie than I would like, pesto is olive oil based so it's a healthier fat (sort of like salmon).  I try to use olive oil rather than butter or cream, read here to see why. Now for the fun part....

Grab yourself:

1 package wheat angel hair pasta

2 containers prepared basil pesto (recipe for homemade pesto below)

1 container large cherry tomatoes

1 bunch asparagus

1 8 oz package fresh mozzarella cheese

1 lb shrimp (I used cooked)

If you want to make your own pesto (which I do when my basil plant is blooming all summer), here's how you do it:

1 container pine nuts (these suckers are pricey)

4 cloves garlic

3 cups fresh basil leaves

1/4-1/3 cup olive oil

Throw that into a food processor and blend until smooth!

Now that that's outta the way....let's get to the pesto shrimp angel hair pasta! Boil your noodles according to package directions. When there is about 4 minutes left, add your halved asparagus to the boiling water.  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, add shrimp, pesto, and tomatoes and cook while stirring continuously for 3-5 minutes. 

Drain the noodles and asparagus and add them to the skillet with the cheese and the sauce.  Stir to coat noodles completely with the pesto...and serve! Yep, that's it. You know how I do! :)

The tomatoes are amazing when you cut into them and they explode a little, the juice blends with the pesto and adds such a deep flavor to this pasta. It was almost better heated up after everything melded together! This makes a humongous batch of pasta, which I brought home for Mama K and I to eat for the weekend of Big Dan's surgery (he got special food made for him which will be posted later on) and she loved it just as much as I did! It was a little addicting to be honest...I'm not proud of how many bowls of this stuff I consumed...you know if the "favorites" tab is present below that it's a winner!