I made this for a late breakfast this morning.

I sauteed some Polska Kielbasa and onions in olive oil and margarine on the stove top. I cooked some medium pasta shells. While doing both of these things, I defrosted some frozen medium sized shrimp (shells & tails removed) in the microwave.

After the Kielbasa and onions began to get some color, I added some thin.ly sliced zucchini. After the zucchini began to soften, I added some diced tomatoes, and shortly thereafter, I added the defrosted shrimp. They were already pink, so no need for much cooking time. I also added the cooked pasta shells and stirred it all up.

Ground pepper and salt… some thyme, marjoram, garlic powder and a little chipotle powder. Don’t recall if I added some celery seeds or not.

This turned out really well. The flavors weren’t overpowering and not much heat.

ADDENDUM: 02/15/21 – Depending upon how much “heat” you want, you can add more crushed red pepper, chipotle powder, cayenne or other hot pepper items. I have made this repeatedly and just love how the flavors come together. I realized, since I have been watching some of Jamie Oliver’s ‘5 Ingredient Meals’ that this classifies as one. Kielbasa, shrimp, zucchini, onion and tomato… darn, and pasta shells. Key for me is to not use too much tomato since little bites of tomato are like tiny islands of flavor that aren’t in each bite. Well, tiny bites of Kielbasa, shrimp and zucchini are also other islands. And, the pasta shells soak up the zuchinni & shrimp flavors in the sauce that is created. I have tried this without the zucchini or using chicken instead of Kielbasa, and it is alright, but as is, is best.

There is an onion in the pan above.

Nip off the ends of the zucchini. You could quarter the zucchini and then cut into smaller bite-sized pieces before cooking. This package of Kielbasa would make about four meals. *I lack ‘portion control’ but the pan above could easily serve two people. You could cut the Kielbasa into “bite-sized” portions also… the shrimp, kielbasa and zucchini all being about the same size when finished.

These tomatoes are the perfect size, and flavor for this dish. I’m not sure if Roma Tomatoes would provide as good of an experience. I don’t think Romas have that distinct of a flavor. Halve or quarter these Campari Tomatoes. You want the skins of these tomatoes to begin to peel away from the flesh, but you don’t want to cook then so long that the tomato disintegrates. *You’re looking for the tomato to become one of those “flavor bombs” in this dish. You are eating shrimp… kielbasa… zucchini… tomato… and the pasta has soaked up the mildly flavored sauce. I think it is the zucchini that flavors the sauce.

I almost forget the pasta, but the texture and that the pasta soaks up the sauce flavors is important. *I have cut way back on the amount of pasta I use in this dish. I don’t need the extra carbs and you just need enough shells to soak up some of the juice. I use only a few grape tomatoes because I don’t want an overpowering tomato flavor in the dish. And they provide just a pink hue to the sauce, and almost disappear in the finished product.

The frozen shrimp come in a package from Publix. I found that I could divide the shrimp into about 5 or 6 smaller packages, putting them in smaller plastic bags, and then store those in the original package. So, I think the shrimp were from $11 – $14. Get the peeled, deveined with tail-off frozen shrimp. You definitely don’t want to have to peel these, and tail-on is just one more thing to peel. I was surprised that the smaller packages of shrimp still had about 15 medium shrimp (which could be cut in half for a more “bite-sized” meal). **Oh, I put the smaller frozen shrimp package in a bowl and defrost it in the microwave for about 15 minutes, while the other items are cooking in the pan.

Actually, onion, kielbasa and zucchini cook in the pan in olive oil, with salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, red pepper flakes (but for more heat and flavor… cayenne, chipotle powder). Have the pasta ready to go in at the last to soak up the sauce.

When the first ingredients have softened, then add the tomatoes and let them start to wither, but shortly after the tomatoes are in, put in the defrosted (mostly cooked) shrimp, and a short time later the pasta. Stir it all up and get ready.

Although I do not add many tomatoes (so far three or four medium-small tomatoes, quartered or halved}, note how red the sauce becomes (above). And, the tomatoes are not cooked down, but only to slightly wrinkled skins.

ADDENDUM: When I re-read the phrase “Shrimp Diablo” I recalled that I think I first became aware of this after ordering it several years ago at a restaurant, I think in “little” Washington (NC). I was there with Leo Taylor, who’s mother (Silver) still lived there. I did not realize that Shrimp Diablo would be “hot” so it was a surprise when I took my first bite. But, I then realized that shrimp and pepper could be pleasing together.

ADDENDUM – ADDENDUM [11/11/21]: I happened upon my online restaurant reviews (apparently 250 of them to date) this morning and happened to find the one for the first time I had “Shrimp Fra Diavolo” (I had only remembered it as “Shrimp Diablo”.) at Frank’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant in Washington, NC.

Alas, Leo Taylor and his mother, Silver, are both dead… for several years now. The “Down on Main Street” Restaurant discontinued the Spaghetti Lunch Special several years ago also… but the spaghetti sauce they served was great because they added several things that most restaurants leave out to “dumb down” the sauces for the masses. According to my review above, my original Shrimp Fra Diavolo was far from what I ended up “perfecting” at home, but for me I have a repeatable winner. I guess the original take-away was that you could add hot pepper to shrimp. The distant memory of my first bite was of hot pepper heat taking my breath.

NOTE [ 12/07/23 ]: As I re-read my review above, I seemed to recall that when the spiciness of the red sauce caught me off guard, I started coughing uncontrollably (as when just a fleck of hot pepper gets caught near your windpipe).

Still, my earlier versions included just Red Pepper Flakes and some Cayenne Pepper, but lately, I have enjoyed adding more & different peppers, some of which I had bought at the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.

Oh, and since I also enjoy Jalapenos & Poblano Peppers, and I roasted those in the oven yesterday (for some homemade salsa), I am planning to add those to this dish today.

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NOTE [05/25/24]: I went to Little Washington on January 19th to attend a library book sale. After buying several Michael Connelly’ Bosch novels at the sale, I went to “Down on Main Street” for lunch. I ordered a Shrimp Po’Boy sandwich with fried okra. The sandwich was delicious, and so were the okra. So much so, that I came back (I think about a month later.) and ordered the same thing again. And, once again, the sandwich and fried okra were delicious. I think they gave me more shrimp and okra than the first time, but I later thought that I might have gotten extra because of the lateness of my lunch the second time.

But on the 19th, I was talking to my waitress and she told me that the restaurant had again started having the Spaghetti Special on Tuesdays. I’ve not been back on a Tuesday since I learned they were having this special again, so I don’t know if the spaghetti sauce is as good as it once was. Still, the hope is there. As I mentioned elsewhere, this sauce wasn’t “dumbed down” like most restaurant spaghetti sauces are, in order not to offend the tastebuds of it’s customers. I don’t recall what extra was included in their sauce, but there was great flavor. Perhaps they included onion, mushrooms and/or meat.

I’ve also mentioned elsewhere that on my visit to this library book sale, I bought about 10 Connelly novels, and I had marked “The Overlook” as one of those books. But, when I got home, I couldn’t find this volume, either inside my apartment nor in my car. I guess I must have written it down wrong, but more likely had a list of the books in a spreadsheet and then checked the wrong one in the list. So, after not finding it, I finally decided to go online and buy a copy. And here is where I found an autographed copy by Connelly. And what was really neat, was that the autograph included something really special. First the autograph was addressed “To Bill,” and then it said, “All the best from Harry Bosch. Good luck in Court.” and then it had Michael Connelly’s signature at the bottom. I thought about this briefly. I knew the “Bill” wasn’t originally me. But this was the fictional detective addressing me “personally,” and the thought occurred: Who better to speak through Bosch than his creator, Connelly. So, I paid a great deal more for this autographed copy of “The Overlook,” and I still think it was well worth the extra cost.

But, who can I give this special copy to? It will have to be someone named Bill. [end NOTE]

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[NOTE 09/20/24}: I hadn’t had this in a while, but fixed it tonight for dinner. I have been using the tiny shells the last few times I’ve made this. The picture I show above has the regular sized pasta shells. Let me re-emphasize that I don’t like to add too much tomato to this dish. I dice up two Campari tomatoes, which are fairly small, and as they cook down they form a slightly reddish gravy. I also used ground Cayenne pepper and some chopped green jalapeno pepper (not a whole one). I still like to use the red pepper flakes.

I see from the top of this posting that I originally created this dish in November of 2020, so it is almost four years that I have been making and enjoying it. Nothing overpowers any of the other ingredients. The zucchini, shrimp and kielbasa all share equally in the presentation. The hot pepper does “take my breath” slightly, but it is addictive. The onion, tomato and pasta are the supporting characters.

If I am still alive next year at this time, I hope I will have been able to get some of the Trinidad Perfume & Biqhino peppers for this dish. [end NOTE]

ADDADDENDUM [07/07/25]: Well, I don’t think I’ve ever had this situation come up, and if it did, I just didn’t make this meal without all of the ingredients. I went looking for zucchini, or some kind of squash and I had none. Or, at least I could find none if I had them somewhere.

But, necessity is a mother, and all of a sudden I thought, “do I have a can of squash somewhere.” Couldn’t find one, and then the brilliance came to me. I have several cans of the Zucchini in Italian Tomato Sauce by Del Monte. And the way the tomato sauce is made in this, it is a lite tomato sauce. When I made this meal using fresh zucchini, I usually put just a few small tomatoes in toward the end because I only want a little tomato flavor, and they don’t overpower the rest of the ingredients and they form a light red sauce. So, instead of using fresh zucchini, and putting in some small grape tomatoes, I just added most of a can of the Del Monte Zucchini in Italian Tomato Sauce. It worked great, although not exactly flavored as usual, but also meeting most of the requirements. *And, there was just enough for once serving. I got some Biqhino peppers at the Farmers Market in Raleigh over the weekend and added several to this meal. [end]