A-MA-ZING Shrimp Dish

Let me start by saying this:

Oh. My. Goodness.

So you know the magazine cookbook I made in the last post? Well, the very first page holds a recipe from Real Simple for a shrimp dish. And since we spent all that time cutting out all the recipes, this past weekend we decided we couldn't resist how amazing this looked:



But like all recipes, I never can quite follow them exactly... But let's start with the original recipe and we'll go from there.

Camarones Enchiladas


Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 red bell pepper, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 2 teaspoons paprika, preferably smoked
* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* kosher salt
* 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
* 1/2 cup dry red wine
* 1 tablespoon capers, chopped
* 1 14.5-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained
* 1 1/4 pounds peeled and deveined medium shrimp
* 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
* 8 small whole-wheat tortillas, warmed
* Sliced avocado, chipotle-flavored hot sauce, and crumbled queso fresco (fresh white Mexican cheese, available in many supermarkets) or Feta, for serving

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, crushed red pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Add the cilantro, wine, capers, and tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you add them. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Add the shrimp and lime juice to the tomato mixture and cook until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve with the tortillas, avocado, hot sauce, queso fresco, cilantro, and lime wedges, if desired.


So here's where we strayed... Tomatoes, bell peppers, red pepper flakes, red wine... absolutely no Mexican/Spanish flavors at all! Except for the very end where you put them in tortillas and add an avocado, everything else screams more Italian to me than anything else. So we followed the recipe exactly, except for the serving method. Instead of tortillas, we grabbed an Italian baguette to sop up the amazing sauce. And let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing. We ate up every morsel. The sauce was divine, the bell peppers tender, and shrimp perfectly cooked. We will absolutely be making this again soon!

(Ok, that's not the only area where we strayed...we added a TON more garlic, but who doesn't love more garlic?!)