Shrimp Broccoli Pasta

My turn. The vaccine. I got it on a Thursday morning at the Savannah Civic Center, which had been turned into a vaccination site — tables and chairs and nurses in PPE and a line of elderly people moving forward with the slow determination of a population that has survived too much to be defeated by a needle.

Kayla came with me. She held my hand in the car (we can do that now — she's vaccinated, I'm about to be) and she said, "Are you nervous?" I said, "Baby, I have survived segregation, the death of a son, the death of a husband, and a three-month period where I couldn't cook. A needle is nothing." She laughed. I was not entirely joking. The needle was nothing. It was the waiting that was hard — the months of isolation, the porches, the masks, the distance. That was the real pain. The needle was the relief.

The nurse who gave me the shot was a young woman named Danielle. She said, "Any allergies?" I said, "I'm allergic to frozen shrimp and people who overcook grits." She stared at me. Then she laughed. I said, "I'm also allergic to penicillin. But mostly the shrimp and grits thing." She gave me the shot. I didn't feel it. I felt everything else — the hope, the relief, the knowledge that in two weeks, plus a second dose, plus two more weeks, I will be able to hold my great-granddaughter. That's what the vaccine is, baby. It's the permission to hold the people you love.

I came home and I made shrimp and grits. Because shrimp and grits is how I celebrate. Because it's the dish that brought me back. Because Pearl cooked shrimp on Sapelo Island and Mama cooked shrimp in the shotgun house and I cook shrimp in the Thunderbolt kitchen and Kayla will cook shrimp in whatever kitchen comes next. The shrimp and grits will outlast all of us. The recipe is the thing that survives.

Now go on and feed somebody.

I didn’t have stone-ground grits in the house that morning — the pandemic had made the pantry unpredictable — but I had shrimp, and that’s what mattered. Shrimp is shrimp. The sea is the sea. The women who came before me didn’t always have every ingredient either, and they fed people anyway. So I made this shrimp and broccoli pasta, which is not shrimp and grits but is shrimp and love, which is close enough for a Thursday that changed everything.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz linguine or spaghetti
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 cups fresh broccoli florets
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine or low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain and set aside.
Blanch the broccoli. In the last 3 minutes of the pasta’s cook time, add the broccoli florets to the boiling water. Drain together with the pasta and set aside.
Season the shrimp. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Cook the shrimp. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp in a single layer and cook 1–2 minutes per side until pink and just cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and the minced garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute until fragrant. Pour in the white wine (or broth) and let it reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Stir in the butter until melted.
Bring it together. Add the drained pasta and broccoli to the skillet and toss to coat. Add a splash of reserved pasta water if the sauce needs loosening. Return the shrimp to the pan. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and Parmesan. Toss everything gently until combined and heated through, about 1 minute.
Finish and serve. Taste and adjust seasoning. Divide among four bowls and top with fresh parsley and additional Parmesan. Serve immediately — and serve it to somebody who deserves it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Shrimp Broccoli Pasta — Because the Shrimp Always Finds Its Way to the Table