Success #2: Scrimps Tacos!

I have a serious obsession with seafood-based tacos.  On a recent trip to Puerto Rico with some friends, one of our stated goals from the start was to eat some delicioso fish tacos.  While we never found any, we ate tons of delicious meals and one night, we ended up at a roadside restaurant where no one spoke English and our cab driver ordered us each a whole fish.

I had never actually eaten a whole intact fish before, but it was seriously delicious.  The best thing about the whole experience was how bare-bones everything was - not a ton of dressings or spices or garnishes, just a lot of real deliciousness.

So last night after spin class with Ellie I decided I was craving tacos.  I was tempted to stop at one of the millions of Mexican restaurants between the cycling studio and my apartment (no joke, despite the fact that it is  2 blocks from my apartment to UWS Cycling). Instead I headed to Garden of Eden to buy some ingredients.  Keeping in mind the last significant taco-related conquest (i.e. Puerto Rico), I decided to make seafood tacos.  Since I had no idea what fish to use, I went with shrimp - quick, easy, summery, and hard to screw up.  Based on intuition, I grabbed half a pound of shrimp, an onion, some cilantro, and some corn tortillas.  After consulting a few random recipes on my blackberry, I added some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and headed home.



I've provided the recipe below, but long story short, these tacos were AMAZING and SO EASY!  Simple, light, healthy, quick, and with lots of room for improvisation.  I definitely could have gotten away with 1/4 pound shrimp, as the half pound yielded 3 PACKED tacos, plus enough for one large one for lunch the next day.  I also didn't end up using the cilantro, as I had some delicious salsa cruda in the fridge that wasn't going to be good for much longer.  And as you'll see, I added some fresh avocado and a dollop of 0% Plain Fage Greek Yogurt in lieu of sour cream to cut some calories.  Here's the recipe for your viewing/eating pleasure - keep in mind all amounts are approximate, as I kinda winged it because published recipes are rarely portioned for one.

You will need...

• sharp knife and cutting board
• large skillet
• spatula
• 1 tablespoon-ish olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, cut in half
• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• corn tortillas (small)
• 1/2 ripe avocado (depending on how much you love avocado!)
• 1 large tomato, diced
• fresh cilantro
• in place of tomato/cilantro, some fresh salsa cruda
• fat-free plain Greek yogurt

Preparation

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent (at least that's what the recipe said.  Mine got all brown, but that didn't matter.)
2. While onions are heating, dice 1 - 2 chipotle peppers, depending on your preference.  More peppers = MORE HEAT!  I used two full ones and it was spicy, but not too much to handle.  Add halved shrimp and chipotle peppers to onions and heat until warm throughout.
3. While shrimp is heating, stick desired number of torillas in the toaster oven and toast for a few seconds, until warm.
4. Once everything is sufficiently warm, assemble your tacos!  Shrimp first, then diced tomato/cilantro or salsa cruda, avocado (I prefer to just spoon out chunks), and finally, a little dollop of Greek yogurt!

Yummy, messy, spicy scrimmmppppsss!!!  I actually took this picture today of the taco I made with the leftovers.  I had an awkward amount of everything leftover - I technically could have made two kinda puny tacos, but I opted for one BIG FAT HONKER.    Also, I think its time to invest in a digital camera...these blackberry pictures suck.