Lisa's Shrimp & Penne

I have a dilemma today. It's bothering me, big time! Do I eat my leftovers from last night's hella good dinner for lunch?? Or do I force myself to wait until dinner time tonight?? UGH! teeee! Quite frankly, I've been awake now for about 30 minutes.. haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet and am thinking my shrimp & penne might not be too bad for breakfast :P Holy crap was it good! Can ya tell? I started making this a few years ago.. I had shrimp and a cupboard full of pasta and all I knew was that I wanted to combine them somehow. I pretty much just looked in my fridge for ingredients that might work - I chopped, I minced and I threw it all together and it worked.. and worked well if I do say so myself, my friends :D The tanginess of the lemon and tomatoes is wonderful with the salty, yet sweet shrimp. The heavier type of pasta works so well with the delicateness of the sauce, giving you something to sink your teeth in to. The tender shrimp and the pasta soaks up the garlicky, buttery, lemony flavors in a most heavenly way.. *swoon* Lisa's Shrimp & Penne 1 pound medium to large, deveined, shell on, raw shrimp 1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick) 6 cloves garlic, minced 6 to 7 sun-dried tomato halves, chopped 1/2 c. chicken stock, not broth 1/2 lemon, juiced 1/2 c. Parmigiano Reggiano, grated 1/2 c. Pecorino Romano, grated good handful of fresh, chopped parsley 2-3 c. penne S & P to taste (If you have sea salt, use it in this recipe if you normally don't) Remove the shells from the shrimp and set aside. Fill a large pot with water and heat to boiling. Once it comes to a full boil, throw a good amount of sea salt in along with the penne, cook for about 7-8 minutes or until al dente. While your water is heating up, place butter in large skillet and heat until it's melted and starting to bubble (You don't want to brown it, though) then add your garlic and tomatoes. Let the garlic permeate the butter for about 3 minutes then add your lemon juice and the chicken stock. Heat through about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp until it just becomes opaque, then add the Parmigiano, then sea salt & pepper to taste, mix well. Once the shrimp has turned a creamy white and pink, take it off the heat. Your sauce should be thin. When the penne is at al dente, using a slotted spoon or spider strainer, remove the pasta from the water and add directly to the skillet with the shrimp mixture. Add maybe a 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Just before plating, add the Romano and the chopped parsley. Sprinkle more romano on top and devour.. try to slow down so the juices don't dribble down your chin. Use a napkin, people! :P Just a couple notes on this one: I normally don't like to spend a lot of cash on my groceries.. I look for bargains and on occasion, I even coupon clip! But.. I have to say with this recipe, don't skimp on your ingredients. Such as.. I keep a good domestic Parmesan in my fridge as well as a hunk of the really good stuff, Parmigiano Reggiano - the cheese that costs like $12.00 for a small hunk - if you can, use that kind in this recipe. Make sure your shrimp are fresh, I didn't buy these at my normal grocery store, I made the trip to my local fish mart because I wanted to know for sure it was caught yesterday. And for really, really good depth of flavor, use stock instead of broth. You can buy a really good quality stock at the grocery store, it's located in the soup section and comes in a paper box. Or use your own homemade stock.. even better :) Because it's such a delicate (yes even with the 1/2 c. butter) dish, you really want fresh, vibrant flavors throughout.. trust me :D )