Flamenco Shrimps!

Ah, Espana….

What a land of passions, colors, fire! I think of spain and I think olive skin, dark hair parted down the middle, sangria in our veins, and dancing to the beat of a flamenco drummer. I’ve had this love affair with the country and culture since I first ventured there during my study abroad stint in France. I was seduced by the warmth of the culture, the color of the cities, the earthy sensuality of the people. This year, I had the chance to go back for a fantastic vacation that took me for a grand loop of the country. We ate, saw, danced, loved. The food in spain was a bit light on the vegetables for me, but I did get to have paella in Valencia, it’s birthplace, and gallons of the best sangria I’ve had in my life! Short glasses, tall pitchers of that deep ruby sweetness that cooled our hot spanish days and fueled our wild spanish nights.

So with Spain on my mind as one of my fellow travelers came to visit me at my home, I whipped up a spanish-inspired meal so the we could properly reminisce about our travels and dream about the future that rolls out boundless before us.

I call this Flamenco Shrimps b/c they’re like a nice spicy Spanish kick in the mouth!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb shrimp
• 1/2 lb chorizo (i used the ground chorizo. I’m sure sausage style would be good too!)
• 1/2 apple
• 1 box mushrooms
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 cup oj
• about 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 TB  red pepper flakes
• 1/2 TB paprika
• bunch fresh basil
• 2 cloves garlic sliced
• olive oil

Steps

1. Prepare the shrimp – Peel shrimp, leaving tails if you wish, and slice down the back, removing the vein. This will give you extra plump delicious shrimp! You will notice I forgot to do this b/c i was too distracted catching up with my friends and cooking. ;-p
2. Marinate the shrimp – place the prepared shrimp in a bowl and add 1/2 cup OJ, dashes of paprika. Stir to mix and set aside
3. Prepare the veggies -
• Dice the apple, tomatoes in small chunks
• Slice the mushrooms in thick slices – about 4 to 5 slices per mushroom
• chop up the basil
4. Make the chorizo sauce – In a large cast iron or heavy bottom pan, heat up some olive oil and some garlic, add all the chorizo and stir while cooking to break apart. Get a friend to do the stirring while you drink wine! :-) After about 5-7 min and the meat is cooking/crumbling, add the tomatoes, paprika, red pepper flakes. Keep cooking another 5 minutes and add the mushrooms. As the meat dries out, add splashes of OJ and/or chicken broth to maintain a juicy/saucy consistency. When the meat is mostly cooked through, and the mushrooms are nice and soft (take a taste!), add in the apples. Add some salt, more pepper flakes to your taste. Remember that the chorizo already has lots of flavor, so don’t over salt! Once the meat is cooked, set aside in a bowl.
5. Cook the shrimp -  in the same pan, w/out washing it out, add more olive oil and garlic. Once the oil is poppin’, toss in your shrimp (w/ no marinade) and cook about 1 min on each side. This will give you the nice just cooked plumpness that makes shrimp so tasty! Then add the chorizo sauce back in the pan and toss everything to mix the flavors together about 1 more minute. Add some chopped basil in as well.

Now you are ready to chow down on this lovely meal. Plate it family style with some extra basil for garnish.

We also made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Tortilla Espanola (top left) which was FANTASTIC even if we failed at getting it of the pan in one piece. Still very yummy! Other sides were bruschetta w/ tomato & basil, sauteed brussell sprouts, and some manchego & gouda cheese to nibble on! What a great meal with great friends.

 

Enjoy!