Garlic butter shrimp and Opa's Country Blend sausage pasta with Parmesan, Fredericksburg, Texas

Garlic Butter Shrimp & Sausage Pasta with Opa's Country Blend

Opa’s Smoked Meats  •  Small Batch. Craft Made. German Tradition Since 1947

Garlic Butter Shrimp & Sausage Pasta with Opa's Country Blend

Opa's Smoked Meats
Servings

4

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Cuisine

Italian

Category

Main Course

Garlic butter, shrimp, Parmesan, and pasta is shrimp scampi's whole genetic inheritance. Opa's Country Blend Smoked Sausage pushes the dish somewhere more substantial — beef and pork with our signature German spice blend, sliced into rounds and browned until the edges are deeply golden. That smoke alongside the garlic butter and sweet shrimp is a pairing that Italian-American cooks have been working with for generations, and it's the reason this recipe feels like more than the sum of its parts. Thirty minutes. One pan.
Garlic Butter Shrimp & Sausage Pasta with Opa's Country Blend

Ingredients

  • 1 package Opa's Country Blend Smoked Sausage, sliced into rounds
  • 8 oz linguine or fettuccine
  • 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 1 cup reserved pasta water
  • Chopped parsley, for finishing

Directions

  1. Cook the pasta. Boil the linguine or fettuccine in well-salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining — the starchy water is doing most of the work in the sauce, so don't skip this step.
  2. Brown the sausage. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the sliced Opa's Country Blend and cook 5-7 minutes until the edges are deeply golden and crisp. Transfer to a plate. Leave the butter and drippings in the pan.
  3. Cook the shrimp. Add the minced garlic to the skillet and cook 1 minute until fragrant — don't let it brown. Add the shrimp and Italian herbs. Cook 3-4 minutes and pull the shrimp the moment they curl and turn opaque. Shrimp go from tender to rubbery in under a minute of over-cooking.
  4. Build the sauce. Return the drained pasta to the skillet. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the grated Parmesan. Gradually stir in the reserved pasta water — a quarter cup at a time — tossing between additions. The starch in the water emulsifies with the butter and Parmesan to create a silky sauce that clings to the noodles without any cream.
  5. Combine and serve. Return the sausage to the skillet and toss everything together. Season with salt and pepper. Finish with chopped parsley and serve immediately — this sauce is at its best straight out of the pan while it's still glossy.
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