Sunday, April 22, 2012

Shrimp Taco Love

If you know me at all, you know that I love all things shrimp.  I mean seriously, I've never had a single thing made with shrimp that I didn't like!  One of my all-time favorite shrimp dishes is Shrimp Tacos.
We have multiple variations of this amazing meal that make the rounds in our menu, but as of recently Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Sauce have been the hit.  I will post the others as they make it through the menu circuit.  You will be surprised how amazingly simple these are!




Here's what you'll need:
  • 1 lb of peeled and deveined shrimp (ALWAYS deveined!)
  • Seafood Seasoning (my favorite is the HEB brand--see below)
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • lime
  • mayonnaise 
  • 1-3 garlic cloves
  • 1 small can (3.5 oz is plenty) chipotles in adobo sauce
  • 1 large onion
  • 1-3 TBSN butter (you can sub oil if you prefer)
  • Purple Cabbage
  • Corn tortillas
1.  Rinse cleaned shrimp and place in large bowl.  Season lightly with Seafood Seasoning in bowl.  Set to the side.  I just discovered HEB brand Seafood Seasoning.  This stuff is awesome!  You literally need to add NOTHING else.  It is a great blend.




2.  Next start caramelizing your onions.  Take your onion and slice into rings.  Personally, I think using a cast iron skillet brings out the best flavor, also, butter is soooo much better than oil for this.  I use 1 TBSN.  Melt the butter in the skillet and then add the onions.  Cook slowly over a low fire until the onions are a nice golden caramel color.  The key is low and slow!  You can always add a pinch of sugar toward the end if you like your onions extra sweet, but I think the natural sugars come out without it. 

3.  For the sauce, take 1 chipotle and chop very finely.  Depending on how much spice you like, you can add more or less pepper.  Add pepper to small bowl.  Add a small amount of the adobo sauce from the can, do so in very small amounts, tasting frequently.  

Mince 1-2 cloves of garlic into bowl.  Add 1/2  cup mayo.  Squeeze in lime juice to taste.  I usually use the juice from a half of a lime.  Stir ingredients until mixed well.  


4.  Now it's time to cook the shrimp.  I always wait until everything is basically finished before starting the shrimp since they only take a few minutes.  If you cook too early they will end up cold and rubbery.  In a skillet, melt 1-2 TBSN butter over medium heat.  Add shrimp, separating well so that each shrimp is touching the bottom of the skillet.  Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, just until the side is pink when flipped.  I then flip them over individually allowing the opposite side to cook.  It literally takes less than 5 minutes to cook them completely.  

5.  While Shrimp are cooking, warm tortillas over a comal or skillet.  Also, slice cabbage and avocado.



6.  To serve, add avocado, sliced cabbage, shrimp to tortilla.  Drizzle chipotle mayo and squeeze a tad of lime juice.  

As a side, I made Spanish-Rice Style Quinoa.  It was pretty tasty; definitely more nutty than spanish rice, but not in a bad way.  I cooked the quinoa according to the directions but added spanish rice seasoning, a few onion slices, and a tsp of tomato paste (I was out of diced or stewed tomatoes).  Not too bad and SO much healthier than using rice!
Hope you enjoy! 
Blessings!

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