Paprika Shrimp Quesadillas

Who doesn't love a delicious quesadilla?  I mean, it's basically cheese and a tortilla filled with any delicious combination of veggies/meats/whatever you can dream up?! Any food that derives from the word "cheese" is automatically awesome, right?  Some of my favorite combos are chorizo and jalapeno, and chicken and peppers.  I've actually never made one containing shrimp before, but this one is delicious.  The shrimp are so flavorful on their own, especially with the addition of the smoked paprika (my new favorite spice), but the combination of them with the cheese, scallions, cilantro, and tomatoes make them even better.... and it's such an easy meal which makes it perfect for a weeknight.  

Paprika Shrimp Quesadillas

from Everyday with Rachel Ray, June/July 2011

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

1 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper

1 lime, juiced

A small handful of cilantro, finely chopped

8 large tortillas

2 plum or vine tomatoes, seeded and diced

4 scallions

2 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Guacamole and/or sour cream for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, or a grill, griddle or grill pan to medium-high.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Toss shrimp with a drizzle of olive oil, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Add the shrimp to the pan, and cook until done, about 4-6 minutes.  When done, add lime juice, toss, and remove from heat.

3. Remove the shrimp from the pan, and chop into smallish pieces.  Place in a bowl, add cilantro, and toss together.

4. To assemble the quesadillas, place half of the tortillas on  foil-lined baking sheet(s) (you will need 2 baking sheets, or you can do this in 2 batches).  Sprinkle cheese onto each.  Then sprinkle on shrimp, tomatoes and scallions.  Top each with another tortilla.  

5. Pop into the oven and bake 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted.  

6. Cut into wedges and serve.

Notes:

• Alternately, you can do this all on a grill, as the original recipe calls for.  (If you are lucky and it's not raining when you are making these!)  For grilling, preheat your grill to medium-high heat.  Once you toss the shrimp with the spices, thread them onto a skewer and grill for about 2 minutes per side.  Pour the lime juice over them before removing from the grill.  Then chop and sprinkle with cilantro.  To make the quesadillas on the grill, it's easier if you place the ingredients on half of each tortillas and fold over, so that only one side is open.  Spray with cooking spray, and place on grill for about 5 minutes, turning once.
• Even without the extra-smokiness that grilling these would have given the quesadillas, they were still awesome!  I used hot smoked paprika, rather than sweet smoked paprika.  Feel free to use either, just make sure it's the fancy smoked stuff!
• The original recipe calls for avocado to be inside of the quesadilla as well, but I decided to make guacamole instead.  It's totally up to you.

Grilled Shrimp and Sausage Skewers with Smoky Paprika Glaze

I was desperate to use my grill by the end of last week, after numerous rainy days, and more in sight for the evening.  After checking the weather channel, and seeing that the rain was supposed to start around 7pm, I had just enough time to make my shrimp and sausage skewers before impending doom- that is, if the meteorologists were correct with their timing.  Seeing as it was 5:45, my bamboo skewers had to soak for an hour, and the kebabs had to cook for 6-8 minutes, it was a race against time.   Thankfully, luck was on my side on Friday night, as I finished up just as I felt the first raindrops start to fall.

Deciding to chance it was the best decision I could have made though.  These skewers were so good that I would gladly had stood out in the pouring rain, sheltering them from the precipitation, if needed.  What's great about these particular skewers is that all you have to really worry about it cooking the shrimp, as the sausage used is precooked, which takes out the threat of overcooked meat from the equation- an ailment that plagues many kebabs.  The glaze was an added bonus in these skewers.  Have you ever had smoked paprika?  It is a far cry from the generic paprika which is a great coloring agent, but doesn't add too much flavor.  One whiff of smoked paprika and you know you're in a whole other flavorful territory.

Grilled Shrimp and Sausage Skewers with Smoky Paprika Glaze

Source: Bon Appetit, June 2010

Ingredients:

3/4 cup olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, pressed

2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 2 tsp dried thyme)

5 tsp smoked paprika

4 tsp Sherry wine vinegar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper

12-20 extra-large shrimp 

12-16 1-inch-long pieces andouille sausage (about 16 ounces) (or other fully cooked smoked sausage, such as linguica)

2 bell peppers (red, orange, or yellow), cut into 1- 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 vidalia onion cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces, each piece should be 2 layers

6-8 metal or bamboo skewers (** If using bamboo skewers, make sure to soak them at least 1 hour)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, garlic, thyme, smoked paprika, vinegar, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.  Transfer half of the mixture to a small bowl for serving, and reserve the other half to use while cooking.

2. Make your skewers by alternately threading on shrimp, sausage, peppers, and onions.  Depending on how many pieces of shrimp and sausage you have, and how many skewers, each will have about 2 pieces of each shrimp, sausage, peppers, and onions.  A couple of mine had three shrimp each.  Arrange the skewers on a large rimmed baking sheet.  

3. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.  Coat the grates with oil (I used canola).  Brush both sides of the skewers with the glaze, and place on the grill.  Grill about 6-8 minutes, until the shrimp are opaque, turning and brushing with glaze occasionally.

4. Serve the skewers with the reserved glaze.

Notes:

• The original recipe in Bon Appetit uses cherry tomatoes and red onion in place of the peppers and vidalia onion.  My tomatoes and red onion had unexpectedly gone bad, so I substituted the other veggies, so feel free to use whatever you want.  They will still be crunchy, with the edges being slightly more cooked.  Alternately, you don't even have to put the veggies on if you don't want... I was just pretending to be healthy.
• In the original recipe, the shrimp that it calls for are the extra-large shrimp, sometimes called colossal, which have 13-15 per pound, and the recipe called for 12 which would be just under a pound.  I couldn't find these at the market, but they did have the jumbo shrimp which were 16-20 per pound.  I ended up with 20 slightly smaller shrimp, and this is why I ended up doing more skewers, with some having more shrimp per skewer.  Feel free to use either- the U 13-15 are hard to find in my experience.
• I realized as I was making this that I didn't have fresh thyme, so I substituted the dry.  A general rule of thumb is that 1 tbsp of fresh herbs, equals 1 tsp of dry herbs.
• I used Pimenton de la Vera for my paprika, which is a hot smoked paprika.  You can also used sweet smoked paprika if you want.  It's sometimes labeled "Pimenton Dulce" or "Pimenton de la Vera Dulce".  Don't use the normal paprika you may have in your spice cabinet- the smoked paprika makes a huge difference!

Chipotle Shrimp

Seafood is one of my most favorite types of food in the world.  Fish, shellfish, you name it- every type of seafood that I've ever tired, I've loved.  Ideally, I'd like to have it multiple times each week, but the cost of it makes me wait for the sales or special occasions.  Last week there was an awesome sale on shrimp at Whole Foods, so I snapped some up as soon as I could.  I knew immediately what I wanted to make with it- something that I've been eyeing for a while- and that was Rick Bayless' Chipotle Shrimp.  As soon as I picked up Mexican Everyday and it stared at me from the cover, I knew that I'd have to make it.

... and so I did.  Wow... if you are a fan of shrimp, a fan of spicy food, a fan of chipotle... you need to make this as soon as possible.  I'm really not exaggerating when I say it's one of the best, and easiest recipes I've made in quite some time, and I've made a lot of good stuff, so that's high praise.

So go forth and make.... really....

Chipotle Shrimp

Camarones Enchipotlados

Source: Mexican Everyday

Serves 4

Ingredients:

One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), drained

2-3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo

1 tbsp chipotle canning sauce

2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped, or crushed through a garlic press

About 1 1/2 cups fish or chicken broth or water

Salt

1- 1 1/4 pounds medium-large shrimp (21-25 shrimp per pound), peeled and deveined, tail left on if you want

About 1/4 cilantro, loosely packed, roughly chopped

White rice for serving (if desired)

Directions:

1. Combine tomatoes, chipotle chiles, and chipotle canning sauce in a food processor.  Blend until smooth.

2. Heat oil in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant and golden.

3. Add tomato mixture, and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often.   Add enough chicken broth to make it the consistency of light tomato sauce.  Taste and season with salt- about 1 tsp. 

4. Add shrimp and cook about 4 minutes, until shrimp are done, stirring constantly.  If the sauce has thickened too much, add more broth or water.

5. Remove the pan from heat and serve the shrimp over white rice (if desired).  Garnish with cilantro.

Notes:

• I used 3 chipotle chiles and it was pretty spicy!  You can definitely vary the chipotles to suit your own taste, but you'll have to add some of the chiles and adobo sauce to get the awesome flavor.  To mute the spiciness further, you can remove the seeds of the chiles if desired.
• This was great over white rice, but you could also serve it plain, or with tortillas.  The sauce is great for dipping.
• Scallops or other seafood would be a great substitution for the shrimp- even chicken would be good if you don't eat seafood.... and if you are a vegetarian, Bayless suggests using tofu and eggplant.
• Other advice?  Just make it!  It's awesome!!!!