Shrimp and Spaghetti Dinner

We have had our first overnight company. Our friends from VA, Linda and Mike, came for a couple days. The day they arrived I had Jim’s cousin and her husband over to meet them as both had heard about each other. I made appetizers real easy. I had 2 cheeses, brie and manchego, Panetini, strawberries, olives stuffed with blue cheese and nuts. I got our first course from the Deen Brothers Cookbook. It served 4, but was very easy to increase to 6. I thought it was wonderful.
Prosciutto, Carpaccio-Style
Ingredients:
8 oz sliced prosciutto
3 oz baby arugula
2T EVOO
1 ½ t red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
4 large plum tomatoes, cored, seeded and chopped
Directions:
1. Divided the prosciutto among 4 plates. Top each with and equal amount of arugula and drizzle each with ½ t EVOO.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 2t EVOO, the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Add the tomatoes, toss to coat. (I did the tomatoes early in the day>) Spoon the tomato salad onto the center of each plate.
For the main course we had Shrimp Spaghetti. I have no idea what magazine I got it from but credit is given to May Howell of Brandon, MS. It was a pretty dish and tasted good, but it has a ton of butter in it and was a little difficult to serve. It serves 8 to 10 easily
Ingredients:
1 ½ C butter
1 C chopped onion
1T dried parsley flakes
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t salt
1 t ground black pepper
½ t dried basil
½ t dried thyme
¼ t garlic powder
3 # medium fresh shrimp peeled and deveined, I used frozen uncooked easy peel shrimp and shelled them. Their shells were split and they were deveined.
1 (12 oz.) package thin spaghetti cooked and drained. I used whole wheat.
1 (8oz.) package processed cheese, cut into ½” pieces. I had no idea what this meant, so I shredded Asiago, Romano, and parmesan cheese together.
Directions:
1. I made the spaghetti ahead of time. Cook in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain and toss with a small amount of EVOO. Store in a zip-top bag or plastic container. Reheat in microwave on high for 1-3 minutes before using in the recipe.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.
4. Add onion; cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in all the dried herbs, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into a 13x 9 baking pan that is pretty enough to serve in. Add shrimp, tossing gently to coat. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from oven stir in spaghetti and cheese. Mix to incorporate the spaghetti and shrimp. Return to oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.
This received rave reviews. But I bet no one dreamed how much butter was in it.
For the dessert, I served my neighbors chocolate cherry cake that I blogged about previously with vanilla ice cream.