Food and Recipes Pasta Creamy Pesto-and-Shrimp Penne with Peas 4.8 (4) 4 Reviews Pre-peeled shrimp, frozen peas, and store-bought pesto makes this flavorful pasta come together in minutes. Instead of buying the jarred, shelf-stable version, choose the kind found in the refrigerator case (we like Bear Pond Farm Premium Basil Pesto). It tastes fresher and more like homemade. Make sure to reserve some of the pasta cooking water; you'll stir it in at the end to make a silky sauce. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley developed and tested recipes for Southern Living Magazine in the Souths most trusted Test Kitchen for 19 years. She worked closely with the editors planning and packaging stories, collaborating with art and photo teams on food styling and recipe reproduction to ensure reader satisfaction, content quality control, and recipe authenticity history and cooking. Her area of expertise was baking and and pastry development and she acted as the point person for these areas in the Test Kitchen. With 30+ years of experience in the culinary field, Pam created and tested 1000s of recipes for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on July 5, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner; Food Styling: Torie Cox Active Time: 25 mins Total Time: 25 mins Yield: 6 serves Ingredients 12 ounces uncooked penne 1 pound medium-size peeled, deveined raw shrimp 1 cup frozen sweet peas 1 (7-oz.) container refrigerated basil pesto 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved (about 1/2 cup) Directions Prepare pasta according to package directions in a pot of salted boiling water, adding shrimp and peas to water during final 2 minutes of cook time. Drain pasta mixture, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water in a small heatproof bowl. Return pasta mixture to pot. Add pesto, salt, and pepper to pasta mixture; stir to combine. Stir in reserved cooking water as needed, 1/4 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Transfer pasta mixture to a serving bowl; sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve immediately. Rate it Print