I have the opportunity to work from the comforts of my home when I don’t have in person meetings. Which is great, but sometimes it means I don’t take the time I should for lunch. I do however usually cook something with whatever I have around the kitchen.
Last week I was craving a taco and had shrimp in the freezer (courtesy of my local BJs. If you have read the Lemon Garlic Chicken recipe, you know this isn’t a shocking detail at all. I’m literally a walking BJs ad.) Here’s the recipe and my interesting techniques likely NOT master chef approved (although I haven’t died yet – just sayin’).
Quick Shrimp Lunch Taco’s (roughly 10-12 mins)
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil (See BJs brand – I used this one since it has a hint of coconut flavor – There’s another kind if you don’t like the flavor of coconut by LouAna that doesn’t have any hint of flavor or coconut scent)
- Shrimp – 4 per Taco (For this recipe I did 14 shrimp – It is what was left in the bag so I could eat extra shrimp as a snack later!) I used frozen Extra Jumbo Uncooked Shrimp (Yep – BJs!).
- Chopped Onions (literally just two shakes or more or less based on your liking – and remember – working on 10 min quick lunch taco’s – I didn’t have time for cutting an onion)
- Garlic Powder (about 1 tsp)
- Parsley (just a pinch aka sprinkle)
- Pink Salt (just a crack or two – from BJs)
- Taco Seasoning (1/2 tbsp)
- Corn Tortillas (I used Guerrero brand – and brace yourself – not from BJs. I got these gems at Shoprite)
- Any taco toppings you wish to add like avocado, fresh lime wedge to squeeze, jalapenos, corn salsa… anything that tickles your fancy really. I didn’t have anything enticing on hand or time to make corn salsa so I opted to eat the shrimp with corn tortillas alone. I don’t think I would recommend cheese or sour cream. Just doesn’t seem tasty to me.
Now that you have all the players, let’s start with the HOW and some Directions.
- Grab your shrimp and place in a small bowl in the sink. Run cold water over the shrimp to thaw them (Pay no attention to the directions on the bag – they don’t tell you to do this) This step is ONLY if you are using frozen shrimp. If not, no need to send them swimming.
- The kind of shrimp I get (pictured above) have the shells on, as the water is running to thaw them, peel the shells off and discard. Again – only if you have shells. I get these because they are more cost effective and you can keep the fancy tails on for show in shrimp scampi and the shells add flavor to certain dishes.
- Once the shrimp are thawed (takes about the time it does for you to peel) drain the water off and pat the shrimp dry with a paper towel. Toss the shrimp in a bowl.
- Place the onion, garlic, parsley, pink salt and taco seasoning in the shrimp bowl and toss to coat (see the coloring – grayish and translucent).
- Place the Coconut Oil in the frying pan and place on medium high heat. It melts rather quickly. After two minutes it should be perfectly warm. Toss in the shrimp.
- Cook the shrimp until they are pink and white. You do not want translucent or gray looking shrimp. These won’t be delicious unless you are into the raw shrimp thing. I am not. It takes roughly 2-3 minutes per side. Then I toss around for extra good measure.
- Warm up the corn tortillas in a frying pan. These ones puff a little when ready. Use high heat for about 30 seconds on each side.
- Place shrimp inside tortilla and enjoy! Add anything extra fancy you wish or enjoy as is. I do not recommend flour tortillas with seafood. Just a heads up!
It is a really quick recipe when you don’t have to read through all my commentary.
Country Wonderland 