Chipotle Shrimp

This is a Rick Bayless week for us. On Sunday we sat down to figure out what we wanted to make for the week before heading to the grocery and we surrounded ourselves with a bunch of cookbooks. Somehow every single recipe we decided on ended up being from Bayless. I guess because it’s been freezing cold and snowy here in Boston and some nice hot, spicy food just sounds really appealing, not to mention the fact that we haven’t made a Rick Bayless recipe that we haven’t loved.

While I had seen this shrimp recipe (and drooled over the succulent shrimp in the picture), it didn’t make our list and I forgot all about it. But when we got to the store and saw that they had a great deal on wild Maine shrimp, we couldn’t pass it up, though we didn’t have any plans for it. When Joseph picked me up from work on Monday, he said he already had a plan for the shrimp and we already had all of the ingredients. He had found the recipe in Everyday Mexican and it just so happened to be the very recipe for the picture that I had been drooling over the night before. It was meant to be! That’s my husband — knowing what I want even when I’ve already forgotten all about it!

The dish smells amazing as you cook it. I was standing there stirring the garlic and tomato/chipotle mixture while Joseph had the shrimp shells boiling in the broth and let me tell you, it gets you pretty excited for dinner!

Chipotle Shrimp #

Adapted from Everyday Mexican

Serves

Now, this is a spicy dish. I like spicy food and I was ok with the level of heat, but wouldn’t want it any hotter. If you’re not into spicy food, you may want to reduce the number of chipotles you use. OR, you could try serving it with guacamole which I think would be quite delicious and would take a little bit of edge off the heat. We served ours with rice, but next time I’ll throw in some zucchini (add it to the pan before adding the garlic) per Bayless’ recommendation. You can also serve with corn tortillas instead of rice if you prefer.

You can reserve the shrimp shells and simmer them in the chicken broth if you’d like to enhance the shrimp flavor and get some use in before you toss them.

One 15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes in juice, drained
2 to 3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo
1 tablespoon chipotle canning sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 to 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 to w/4 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
About 1/4 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro

Process the drained tomatoes, chipotle chiles, and chipotle canning sauce into a blender or food processor with the chipotle chiles and chipotle canning sauce and process until smooth. You can also do this in a bowl with an immersion blender if you’re trying to cut back on dishes to wash (like me), just be careful so it doesn’t splatter all over the place (like it did for me).

Optional: Simmer the broth or water with the shrimp tails and shells for a few minutes. Strain and toss the shells and tails.

In a large skillet (12 inch skillet), heat the oil over medium heat, add the garlic, and stir until fragrant, about one minute. Pour the tomato mixture into the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Add one cup of broth or water and cook until the mixture reaches a fairly light tomato-sauce consistency. Add salt to taste, probably around a teaspoon.

Add the shrimp to the pan. Stir until the shrimp are just cooked through. This will take about 4 minutes, but will also depend on the size of shrimp you’re using. Stir in a little more broth or water if you need to thin the sauce to get your desired consistency.

Sprinkled with cilantro and serve.