One of my favorite things about traveling to coastal cities is the amazingly delicious seafood you find there. A few days ago I was going through “seafood withdrawals” from my previous trips. Luckily for me, I remembered seeing a “Shrimp Tacos” recipe on Small Chicks & Big Eats, a food blog I follow and really enjoy, so I decided to give it a go.
Below I share a recipe that was shared by the creators of the site Alexandria and Jessica. I slightly modified some of the ingredients due to personal preference, as they encourage you, so feel free to utilize the original concept as your blueprint . This meal was so delicious and although I couldn’t physically travel, my tastebuds were in a beach chair in Mexico enjoying these tacos.
What You’ll need:
Shrimp(uncooked, clean, deshell and devein. I used 1.5 lbs for 8-10 tacos)
Fruits: 1 slice of Watermelon, 2 cans of sliced Pineapple (in the can with natural juice), 1 Cucumber, 1 Tomato, 2 Limes
Vegetables: 1 Green pepper, 1 Red onion, 1 Canned corn, 1 Canned diced jalapeños, 1/4 Shredded red cabbage
Seasonings/Herbs: Cilantro, Garlic powder, Onion powder, ground red pepper, red pepper flakes, Cracked black pepper, Honey
Whole wheat tortillas
Zip lock bags
Getting it Done:
The first thing you want to do is clean, peel and devein the shrimp. I bought them cleaned and deveined, so it saved me a lot of time. Next you will throw them in a zip lock bag or two, depending on how much shrimp you have and the size of your zip lock bags. Once you have them in the bags you will season them with all the seasonings listed above. I also squeezed some lemon to taste in each zip lock bag. Next, put them in the fridge so you can begin your pineapple salsa, allowing your shrimp to soak up the flavor! The time in the fridge does not matter. It is being refrigerated which is the most important part. Do not leave the shrimp out!
For your salsa you will take: your sliced pineapple out of the can, cut off the ends of your red onions and into fourths, clean up your green pepper and cut into fourths, then take some chunks of watermelon. When going to grill these items you’ll need aluminum foil for one side, cooking spray and the honey. Your onions, green pepper and watermelons will go on the part of the grill with the aluminum after you give it a light coat with cooking spray. I didn’t have a grill available, as the original recipe suggests, so I used the stove and put a griddle pan on top (see picture). Your pineapple will get placed directly on the griddle. You’ll then drizzle honey around the pineapple so when you flip it, it’ll pick up more flavor.
After 15 minutes on the grill and flipping everything so it cooked through evenly, you’ll bring it back inside to julienned, slice and dice. Your grilled watermelon will be blended down with some jalapeños, cilantro, a few chunks of grilled pineapple, a fresh squeezed lime and a fourth of a cup of water. This blend will get mixed into your corn, diced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, remainder of the jalapeños, grilled pineapple and chopped cilantro. I added some black pepper, minced garlic and squeezed 1 fresh lime and added a tablespoon of honey. Mix and taste. Put it in the fridge, and remove the shrimp.
On a skillet I sprayed some Pam & threw in the shrimp. The shrimp can get cooked for 4-5 minutes on each side. When plating your taco you can put it together however you’d like. I sprayed the grill with Pam and grilled the whole wheat tortilla for 2 minutes to warm up, then placed it on a plate, put in about 4 pieces of shrimp and added some shredded purple cabbage. I also added some of the sliced grilled onion and green peppers. The grilled pineapple watermelon salsa will be what you top it all off with.
Serve & enjoy! It was so delicious I had some for lunch the next day. It is the closest I will get to a vacation for now until my next travel endeavor.
