Lou's Most Excellent Tagliatelle Primavera

This was originally going to be entitled LME Everything But The Kitchen Sink. What started as just shrimp + garlic + oil + pasta turned into this when I started rummaging through the fridge.

Notice the absence of onion from the tomato sauce. The reason for this is quite simple:

I didn’t have one.

1 pound 16-count shrimp, peeled & deveined
1 pound tagliatelle pasta
1 small head radicchio
4 oz Italian marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
¼ cup dry red wine
1 bunch spinach (about 8 oz.)
15 – 18 dry cured olives, pitted and halved
1 10 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper
Herbs de Provence

Clean and wash the spinach. Cut the radicchio head in half and remove the wilted outer leaves; cut out the core from the radicchio and peel off the leaves, tearing large leaves in half.

Drain the artichokes and reserve the oil.

In a small saucepan (1.5 quart) add the artichoke oil over medium heat. Add the garlic all at once and remove from heat. Open the tomatoes and using a sharp knife coarsely cut them up in the can. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan along with 1 TSP of herbs. Add about 1 TSP of salt and 5 – 8 cranks of fresh pepper. Add the wine and artichokes into the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, covered.

Bring 4 quarts of salted water to boil for the pasta. When boiling, begin cooking the pasta while proceeding on below.

In a large skillet heat ~ 2 TBS of olive oil over medium heat. Toss the shrimp in and sauté each for about 1 minute per side. Remove shrimp, add ~ 1 TBS of olive oil and gently wilt the spinach for about 2 minutes; it should still maintain its greenness and texture. Remove the spinach and then add the radicchio and more olive oil, if necessary. Sauté the radicchio for about 2 minutes, about the point where the smaller leaves begin to turn a deep purple. Add about ¼ TSP of balsamic vinegar and toss together.

Add back the spinach and the olives, toss together, then the shrimp. Pour in the tomato sauce.

Drain the pasta and top with the sauce. Serve immediately and with grated Parmesan, if desired.