The Shrimpventure Begins

This week I had shrimp on the brain.  Don't ask me how it got there (P.S. "Shrimp of the Brain" sounds like a terrifying early 19th century medical diagnosis, like the kind that would get you all kinds of lobotomized).  Anyway, I do not usually think about shrimp.  It's not something I ever crave.  I mean, if it happens to be tossed into a stir fry, then all the better, but I never consider shrimp for the focus of a meal.  Well, the shrimp council must be doing a bang-up job with its subliminal messaging campaign (not a real thing . . . I think) because I was craving shrimp all week long.  More specifically, I was craving shrimp tacos, because everything is better in taco form, no? 


I almost always err on the side of seafood tacos, due to my gut instinct that seafood is inherently better for you than land-based taco fillings.  So I was shocked and appalled when my sister claimed she had only ever had bland fish tacos.  "What are you an idiot?" I thought, which really wouldn't explain her experiences, but I was angry, damn it!

Because she had only eaten seafood tacos the stupid way, I was determined that our shrimp tacos be amazing.  I knew it was all about the toppings because really, you can only get so much flavor into shrimp before you must wrap them in bacon (turns out I was wrong in this assumption, as the chipotle powder Karen covered them in is amazing).  The plan was to top our shrimp with the following:

Cabbage
Cilantro
Avocado
Mango salsa
Mysterious cream sauce I made up

CAVEAT: Due to the combination of an extremely empty stomach and an extremely strong margarita just prior to cooking, my recollection of the process is both splotchy and tainted with the belief that everything I did was amazing.  At one point, I seem to remember throwing all the ingredients in the air and chopping them so that they landed in picturesque taco form on our plates.  Then Karen told me to "stop throwing sh*t all over the kitchen."  Hater.       

After looking at a couple shrimp recipes, I decided to go with the one that directed you to coat the shrimp in olive oil and chipotle powder and fry for about two minutes on each side.  I love it when things are so easy.  Although I've recently discovered the magic that is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, I was unaware of this so-called chipotle "powder," but let me tell you that it is amazing.  Tony claims that he'd bought chipotle powder before but it was very finely ground and not as tasty, so if you're gonna get it make sure it's sort of coarsely ground and possibly in a clear bag with a yellow label . . . I do not remember the name or any other details.  In fact, the bag may have appeared in front of me at the grocery store through an enchanted spice rack which vanished into the mist shortly after I reached for the chipotle powder.  In any case, it's so smokey and flavorful that not only did it make our shrimp delicious, but I've been using it in every recipe that calls for chili in any form.  So, chipotle powder.  Get on that.

Next it was time for the mango salsa of which Brony previously spoke.  I saw a few recipes online, but decided to defer to my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  I appreciate that this is a no-frills, back-to-basics cookbook.  It's sort of my touchstone in a world where an online search for "salsa recipe" will retrieve five-hundred-eleventy billion different recipes and surely cause your brain to short circuit.  With a good cookbook you can master the basics and then get crazy with your own variations.  And what do ya know, they had a recipe for mango salsa.  It's your basic mango, onion, jalapeno, vinegar recipe, and it definitely did the trick.


Meanwhile, Tony was doing this:

Karen had mixed up the mango salsa and it was mingling in the fridge, the rice was simmering, doing its sacred and secret rice thing, so I set to work on the beans.  Without a recipe to guide me, using only my wits, culinary acumen, and a new best friend, inebriation, I promptly freaked out and started questioning everything I did.  Garlic?  Should I add garlic?  What about cumin?  Cayenne?  Should I add beans?  Oh yeah, duh.  Ok, I'll be the first to admit that, despite making the right choice every step of the way, my beans turned out bland.


Yeah,  they weren't great.  But then, my rice turned out soggy.  Those dishes shall henceforth be shunned and ultimately forgotten.  Let's move on to tastier territory . . . 


I took it upon myself to concoct a cream sauce, something my sister hadn't even considered (I did, however, suggest covering everything in cheese, but we couldn't afford it).  A good cream sauce is absolutely necessary for a good fish taco.  Even a mediocre cream sauce will do.  And that's exactly what I set my sights on.  I lucked out and found some mayonnaise in the fridge which I diluted with a little plain yogurt, lime juice, salt and cumin.  Bingo!  Perfectly mediocre.  I prepared the rest of the toppings and was just about to greedily shovel it all into my gullet before Karen reminded me that we had to take photos.  

Rice and beans aside, this is one of the best meals we've ever made.  I'm not so good at using fancy culinary words, but them tacos were kick ass.  Each filling had great strong flavors, but none overpowered the others and the cabbage gave it just the right amount of crunch.  All in all, these tacos are pretty simple, as long as you're prepared to do a lot of chopping and don't leave off any of the toppings because they all need and love each other . . . just like a family.   Awwwww.

And remember that you don't necessarily need a strong classic margarita to go with your Mexican dish, but you want one, ok!? So, back off!