Bowtie Pasta with Shrimp and Avocado Pesto

Given the craziness of recent life events and starting residency shortly, I will alas put my famous food doodles on hold for the sake of time, otherwise I’d be posting only once a month. I have so much recipes and stories to share, just where does the time go? 

As I’m packing up and preparing to move out of Houston, I can’t help but feel nostalgic. Sure every gets all excited about where they match for residency, but when the dust settles, you realize heck, you have so little time left with your friends and classmates now!

So in my last few weeks what did I do? I am a huge fan of museums and arts so visited quite a few (Holocaust museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and Museum of Natural Science, and the Houston Zoo), watched the cutest musical Crazy for You at the Miller Outdoor Theater , and hiked lots of pretty places, (Hermann Park, Buffalo Bayou, and Jesse Jones Parks). All this is FREE – Houston has some pretty amazing free day activities which I will sorely miss.

Also I’ve had to tackle the giant mess of moving. I’ve spend a good four years in my huge apartment (thank you Texas rent) and now I can only wonder how did I accumulate so much stuff?!

I had this naive dream of packing my stuff in a Uhaul and driving it all up … until I found out it costs a fortune to drive a Uhaul more than 1,700 miles (even without hiring movers). Nope nope nope.

So I sold most of my stuff, packed what I had, and lived like a pauper the last few weeks – no bed, no tables, no couch, no desk. I ate my meals standing up/on the floor, worked my laptop on a footstool, and slept on a borrowed sleeping bag. Yay!

This is why there’s no table in these photos. Just er, bedsheets.

This avocado bowtie pasta is literally made of the remnants of the food I had … frozen shrimp, two avocados, and homemade Italian pasta bowties. So I present to you my last cooked meals as a pauper medical student in Houston 🙂

Loosely adapted from Giada on Food Network

Bowtie Pasta with Shrimp and Avocado Pesto 

Ingredients
1-1 1/2 cups dried bowtie pasta
1 large ripe avocado, halved, peeled, and seeded
1 cup spinach leaves
1 cup fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/3 cup olive
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 lb large whole shrimp

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Place in a serving bowl.

Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh from the avocados and place in a food processor. Add the arugula, basil, lime juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Pour the pesto over the pasta and toss together. Add the cheese and almonds and toss together until coated, adding the pasta water, as needed, to loosen the sauce.