Spicy Creole Shrimp

Can you think of a less Thanksgiving-like meal than Spicy Creole Shrimp?

Since my brother offered to host our family’s Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, that left Steve and I free to do, well, nothing in particular. I have a love hate relationship with nothing-to-do. When I’m busy and feeling tossed in a dozen directions I wish I had nothing to do. When I actually have nothing to do I’m bored. Feels like a first world problem most of the time but it does torment me fairly often. Balance is easier to say than to attain in my experience.

Often boredom alone is enough to get me into the kitchen and this weekend I did have a few small projects pushing me in that direction, even without needing to prepare a turkey. 

Two weeks ago we started curing our first ever pork loin for Spanish lomo. We have always wanted to try our hand at making capicola, salumi or some other cured meat and have finally taken the plunge. I found a product called UMAi Dry that looked to me like a safe and easy way to get started. We started the loin in its cure two weeks ago so this weekend was time to rinse it off and package it so that it could be left to dry for the next 6 weeks. I’ll post about that process once I’m sure we don’t give ourselves botulism…

We also had some nice fat shrimp sitting on ice that needed to be turned into something yummy. The big man had been out on Friday morning running some errands and stopped in at Costco. They had one of those pop up seafood shops and he came home with a big bag of huge fresh shrimp. Steve likes to cook and on the weekends he often takes his turn in the kitchen. He’s a decent cook, even though he can’t follow a recipe to save his life. Bless him for doing it though since at least one or two days a week I just have to pull a side dish or two off while he worries about the main.

Steve tends to like spicier foods and decided that a creole type shrimp was what he was craving. Despite it’s lack of Thanksgiving-ish-ness, it seemed a perfect fall meal. Warmly spiced, light (in preparation for the carb fest that the main feast would be) and pretty to look at (always a plus in my books) this recipe turned out to be a perfect, pre huge-dinner meal. We think this would be pretty great on chicken or with fish, especially in fish tacos.

The shrimp were tossed in some pretty basic but tasty spices, then added to a pan of butter and garlic,

tossed for just a few minutes, over not too high a heat (who want’s rubbery shrimp?),

sprinkled with some sliced green onion,

and served. 

Fast, fresh and delicious. I served mine with cauliflower rice and made white rice for the men if they wanted it. I’ll save my carb loading for my brother’s dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spicy Creole Shrimp

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Author: www.miasdailydish.com

Warm spicy shrimp make a satisfying but light meal.

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Ingredients

• 2 lb fresh or frozen shrimp shelled and deveined
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ancho chile powder or aleppo chill powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbsp water
• 3 green onions thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Mix spices, paprika through salt in a small bowl or ramekin
2. Mix Worcestershire, lemon juice and water in another small bowl or ramekin
3. Set both aside
4. Melt butter in pan over medium heat, add garlic and cook just until fragrant
5. Add shrimp to pan and cook until just beginning to turn opaque
6. Add spice mix and toss to coat until fragrant and shrimp is nearly done
7. Add liquid ingredients to pan and stir until shrimp is done
8. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle green onion over the top before serving

Recipe Notes

Serve with rice or cauliflower rice and a green salad.