I do love Shrimp Fra Diavolo. The spice of the crushed red pepper compliments the crisp fried shrimp amazingly. I am often a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Italian dishes, but this is one dish where I stray a bit. My wife calls my Shrimp Fra Diavolo “Spanish-Italian,” as I take a different approach to the sauce. Rather than using canned tomato and making a more traditional sauce, I grate Roma tomatoes and make a sauce by cooking the grated pulp down with onion, garlic, and white wine. I finish the reduced sauce off with some balsamic vinegar before returning the shrimp to the sauce to coat them. I typically serve my Shrimp Fra Diavolo over polenta, making for kind of an Italian style shrimp and grits.
Ingredients
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp crushed red pepper
4-5 Roma tomatoes
½ onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt, plus more if needed
½ tsp black pepper, plus more if needed
½ cup white wine
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Handful of parsley, chopped
1-2 tbsp Olive oil
In a bowl, combine the shrimp with the crushed red pepper. Toss the shrimp to fully coat it with the crushed red pepper and set aside.
Remove the stem from the tomato by slicing the “top” of the tomato off. Make a flat slice, cutting about 1/8 to ¼ of the tomato off. Now press the flat side against a grater and grate the tomato. As you press and grate, you will separate the inner pulp from the skin. Grate all four to five tomatoes the same way, discarding the skin. Reserve the grated tomato pulp in a bowl.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp to the pan, and cook for 90 seconds to 2 minutes, flip the shrimp, and cook for 90 seconds to 2 minutes on the other side. The shrimp should be orange and still firm. Remove the shrimp from the pan and place in a bowl.
Add the onion, and cook for roughly 3 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato puree and ½ tsp each of oregano, salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine the ingredients. Allow to cook for a minute or two and then add the white wine.
Allow the tomato and wine mixture to come to simmer, reduce the heat to low to medium low and allow to simmer until the liquid in the pan has reduced to about 1/3, which should take about 10-12 minutes. Once reduced, add the balsamic vinegar, and stir to fully blend. Allow the sauce to simmer for an additional 5 minutes. The sauce will darken to a deep red wine color and thicken.
After five minutes return the shrimp to the pan. Toss to fully cover the shrimp with the sauce. Allow to cook for a minute or so more and then remove from the heat.
I prefer to serve the Shrimp Fra Diavolo over creamy polenta. Serve a portion of creamy polenta on a plate, top with Shrimp Fra Diavolo, and then garnish with chopped parsley. You can also serve over pasta. This recipe does not create a lot of excess sauce, so I recommend serving over a Spaghetti Pomodoro if you choose to serve over pasta.