I like to cook, but I don’t like to follow recipes. Mostly because I’m not good at it. I always seem to skip a step or leave an ingredient out.  But I like to read recipes because they give me inspiration for creating my own dish.  I happened to have a few frozen scallops and shrimp and decided to create a pasta dish with them. Normally I don’t write my recipes down, but this came out great. I think I have approximate the amounts, and you can experiment too. But I think the “secret” ingredient was the cheddar cheese which I ended up using when I realized I didn’t have any parmesan cheese. Turns out, it was just what the dish needed –  made the sauce a little creamy and the taste was fab, not cheesy at all.

Cheryl’s Shrimp and Scallop Pasta

Serves 2 to 4 people. (for 4 people add more pasta.)

Ingredients

• 8 large scallops

• 8 large shrimp

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1/2 lb pasta

• 1 clove garlic, diced

• 1/2 cup white wine

• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

• Salt pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomatoes

• 1/8 cup snap peas

• 1/4 cup cubed cheddar cheese.

• 1/8 cup snapped peas

• ½ Fresh herbs – Your choice – I used  chives basil sage parsley. Roughly chopped.

Directions

• Boil the pasta al dente (about 6 minutes)

• Add olive oil and melt butter in a deep skillet or sauce pan

• Sauté the diced garlic

• Over medium heat, sauté the shrimp and scallops (about 5 minutes)

• Season with sea salt and pepper to taste

• Add the red pepper flakes

• Simmer for about 1 minute

• Add the wine

• Simmer for about a minute

• Add the cheddar cubes and still in til melted

• Drain the pasta and add to the pan

• Stir and simmer about a minute

• Add the tomatoes and snap peas

• Stir and simmer about a minute

• Serve and add the chopped herbs on top.