Shrimp Fra Diavolo translates to Shrimp “brother devil”. Wait…What?? My former sister-in-law, who I remember to be an incredible cook, had posted a picture of this on her Instagram feed. My mouth was watering as I was figuring which day this week I could make an attempt at creating it. Shrimp and a spicy sauce with some heat should be amazing!
After searching for more background on the recipe on Pinterest and Google, I found one on cooksillustrated.com using San Marzano tomatoes which are my go to tomatoes when creating a fabulous sauce worthy of bread dipping or coating pasta with perfection. If I’m making a seafood style pasta dish, I have to use a form of seafood stock, and their directions for creating one sounded incredible! So between Nancy and my other references, we are going to put this spectacularly spicy shrimp dish to work in my “test kitchen.”
First , Nancy suggested using chili oil to drizzle onto the finished product. Since it sounded simple enough to make, I did this ahead of time therefore I had it on hand. The recipe, included below, can be stored for about a month in a sealed container. This would be the perfect oil which to add other fresh chopped herbs for a bread dipping treat. Follow this link to the Herb Dipping Oil recipe. Use 1/2 cup of the chili oil with the freshly chopped herbs listed. It should give you an incentive to create some Rosemary Focaccia Bread for dipping!
The oil and red pepper flakes are combined, then heated to about 180 degrees over low heat for about 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature, approximately 2 hours. Store in a sealed container. The red pepper flakes give the olive oil a deeper amber, almost reddish hue.
Now onto the meal. Place a colander over a large bowl and pour in the San Marzano tomatoes. Gently squeeze out juice by hand from tomatoes after piercing them with the edge of a rubber spatula. Toss them briefly to release any extra juice, Once drained, place tomatoes in a small bowl, reserving the juice. Crush the tomatoes using your hands in the bowl and set aside until ready to use.
Peel shrimp and toss them with about 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt, a 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Place the shells in a large skillet with 1 more tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Stir them frequently until spotty brown and skillet has a brown reside on the bottom.
Remove skillet from the heat and add the wine slowly for the deglazing process. Once the bubbling starts to diminish, return pan to the heat for about 2-4 minutes or until wine is reduced to about 2 tablespoons. This is going to amp up the shrimp flavor you want evident in such a sauce of perfection.
Add the reserved tomato juice to the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour tomato juice/shells into colander set over a bowl. Reserve the liquid and discard the shells.
After wiping out the pan, cook the shrimp, in batches, if necessary. Flip over when they start to turn pink and cook for an additional minute. Remove them from the pan and set aside. They will finish cooking in the sauce in a bit, so don’t worry that they are not done.
Slice onion pole to pole, then slice each half thinly. Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the pan Sauté onions until they become translucent. about 5 minutes.
Add in the garlic, remaining pepper flakes and oregano, if using dried, over medium heat, stirring frequently for about 1-2 minutes until garlic is a golden color and fragrant. Add in the anchovies, if using, and stir for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Remove skillet from the heat. Here, I added an additional 1/3 cup of wine to deglaze the pan again. This would be a good time to start cooking the salted pasta water.
Return pan to heat, stirring in the reserved juice. Add in the crushed tomatoes. Continue to crush tomatoes into mixture using a potato masher or an equivalent tool. Increase the heat to medium-high and simmer for about 5 minutes or until mixture is thickened.
Stir in the basil chiffonade, parsley, fresh oregano along with chopped peperonccini and some of its brine. . Season with salt to taste, if needed. I didn’t add any more since I wanted the fresh herbs’ flavor to be evident. Pasta should be placed into your pot of boiling salted water around this point in the cooking process.
Check this out! The aroma and the vibrant colors tempt you to do a taste test. Go ahead! Then say, “The devil made me do it!”
Add the shrimp to the sauce. Gently toss and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. At this point, your pasta should be close to the al dente stage. Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water before draining it. We will use in the sauce before serving . The starchy water will help thicken the sauce a bit, allowing it to adhere to the pasta perfectly.
Stir in about 3/4 – 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir.
Toss the Shrimp Fra Diavolo with pasta or serve in a bowl with a nice crusty ciabatta bread. Drizzle with your homemade chili oil before serving if you are choosing to use it. Sprinkle with some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, then start to devour! 
The devil made me do it!.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 servings
- Chili OIl ~make ahead of time:
- 1 c. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
- Shrimp Fra Diavolo:
- 1½ pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined, reserve shells
- ½ t. Kosher salt
- ½ t. red pepper flakes
- 1 T. extra virgin olive oil
- 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes
- 3 T. extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1⅓ c. dry white wine, divided~ I used a savignon blanc.
- 1 medium red onion, peeled, sliced pole to pole, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced,minced
- ½ t. red pepper flakes- Add more if that's your preference.
- ½ t. dried oregano or 1-1/2 t.-1 T. fresh oregano leaves, chopped
- 2 anchovy filets, rinsed, dried and minced
- ⅓ c. fresh basil chiffonade
- ¼ c. chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 2 T. pepperoncini, chopped plus 1 T. brine
- chili oil
- Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
- Chili Oil may be prepared ahead of time so it is ready when you make this dish if you are choosing to make it. Its time is not included in prep time below.
- Heat oil and red pepper flakes until it reaches 180 degrees. Allow it to cool to room temperature for about 2 hours, Store in a sealed container.
- Peel shrimp and pat dry. Reserve the shells. In a small bowl, toss the peeled shrimp with red pepper flakes, salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Over a large bowl, with a colander in place, drain the can of tomatoes. Gently squeeze the tomatoes by hand, releasing their juices. Press tomatoes with the back of a spatula to release more.Set tomatoes aside in a bowl to use later in the process.
- In a large stainless skillet, preheated to medium high heat, drizzle a tablespoon of oil. Add the reserved shells. Stir constantly for a couple of minutes as shells change color.
- Remove pan from heat and add 1 cup of white wine to deglaze pan.
- Return pan to the heat. Stir in the reserved tomato juice. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Pour contents in colander over large bowl again. Stir to allow all the juice to drain through.
- Wipe out pan and over medium high heat, cook shrimp in batches for about 2 minutes on one side and 1 more additional minute on the other. The shrimp is already coated with oil, so it is not necessary to place more oil in the pan at this time.Remove from pan and set aside.
- To the same pan over low heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Saute the sliced onions until translucent.
- Add the garlic, remaining red pepper flakes, and dried oregano( if not using fresh). Stir for 1-2 minutes.If using, rinse, pat dry and mince the anchovies.
- Remove pan from the heat.Deglaze pan again with the remaining ⅓ cup of white wine.
- At this point, you should have your water boiling ready. Start your pasta so that it is al dente when shrimp is placed in sauce.
- Stir in the shrimp shell-infused tomato sauce to the pan along with the crushed tomatoes. Crush tomatoes further using a potato masher or other comparable tool. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the chopped fresh herbs along with chopped Peperoncini and some of its brine. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add shrimp to the sauce, stirring frequently.
- Add ¾ cup to 1 cup of reserved pasta water to the sauce. Stir until blended in well.
- You may ladle desired amount of sauce over pasta. Or, using a pasta fork, remove pasta directly from the pot to the sauce pan, stirring to combine and coat the pasta as you prefer.
- Drizzle on the chili oil and garnish with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, if desired.
