I'm a sucker for anything with Bang Bang sauce on it. If you ever find yourself near a Bonefish Grill, do yourself a favor and get an order of Bang Bang Shrimp...you won't be sad. So when our friends invited us over for dinner one night, I was delighted to see she was cooking something yummy and it was smothered in Bang Bang sauce!
Here in Alaska, fresh, wild caught Alaskan salmon is abundant. During salmon season, you can find Alaskans with their dip nets on any of the salmon rich rivers catching their year's supply. If you time it just right, you can catch your yearly limit in a couple of hours when the salmon are running heavily. It's exhausting and dangerous work because these rivers are often times hard to get to and very VERY swift. You never go alone and you work as a team. Usually one guy is tied off to a rope which is secured to a rock and that guy has a huge dip net (they're about 5' in diameter) dipping it into the rapid, raging river and just pulling salmon out as fast as he can get them. Then the salmon are handed off to another guy to be dispatched. Then once the limit is reached, they pack them into ice filled coolers and bring them home to clean and filet.
If you have an abundance of salmon, or you just really love salmon and want to use it in this dish, use the salmon "tails". They're not the actual tails, but the 3" or so of meat on the filet that's closest to the tail is boneless. Those boneless portions are PERFECT for this!
1lb. dried spaghetti (or fettuccini)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. coconut oil
4 1/4 cups water
1lb. raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (or 1lb. of salmon "tails")
3/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (plus more for the shrimp/salmon)
1/4 cup lime juice
sprinkle of cayenne or Creole seasoning
1 cup diced scallions OR red onion
garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Break the pasta noodles in half and place in your Instant Pot. Add minced garlic, coconut oil, 1 tsp. salt, and water. Lock the Instant Pot lid on, set the valve to "Sealing", and process on Manual, High, for 4 minutes. Once it's finished, turn the pot off, and quick release the pressure. If there is excess water, drain completely and return the pasta to the Instant Pot. Put the lid back on to keep the pasta warm.
Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the mayo, chili sauce, lime juice, and cayenne (or Creole) together and set aside.
Heat a medium skillet to medium-high heat (use cast iron if you have it). Add a drizzle of olive oil and add the diced onion and shrimp. Season lightly with salt, pepper and a bit of cayenne (or Creole), and add about 1/4-1/2 cup of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Cook until onions are soft and shrimp is pink.
Now it's time to assemble! Open the Instant Pot and stir the sauce into the pasta. Then add the shrimp mixture. Turn the Instant Pot onto Sauté and toss everything together, tossing constantly for 2-3 minutes until everything is mixed together and the sauce is warmed through. Taste and add salt, pepper, and garlic powder as needed.
Serve warm with fried green beans and some nice, toasty, sourdough garlic bread.
**Fried Green Beans**
We buy the big bag of organic frozen green beans from costco! They're the best things EVER!
In a large cast iron skillet, heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on medium-high heat.
Add as many green beans as your family will eat. Sprinkle green beans with garlic power, onion power, salt, and pepper. Cook until the green beans are thawed, the water has evaporated, and a few have started to char. Add a little bit of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, toss, and serve.
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