The real American holiday is Super Bowl Sunday. No matter your background, no matter if you never heard of football until last week, on Super Sunday this nation will center around two things: their televisions and a spread of food and beverages.
Statistics about Super Sunday abound. Enough chicken wings to extend to the moon, almost. Pizza that could belt the planet.
Suzen and I are shrimp fanatics and we’re in love with this Shrimp Adobo recipe from Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking by Jim Peyton. These shrimp are hot, adobo hot. The shrimp are slathered — a great verb — in sauce that will have beads of perspiration on your brow in no time. You can eat this as a pure appetizer or have them as the centerpiece of a complete meal. In the picture below, you’ll find the shrimp matched with an earlier post for Bourbon Glazed Carrots:
https://cookingbythebook.com//really-simple/bourbon-glazed-carrots-from-kathleen-purvis/
Make lots of these shrimp, lots. They make “leftovers” into something that is not a four letter word! Shrimp have a marvelous texture and "solid" feeling. A bad shrimp, like a football from the Patriots, will feel a little deflated. You can get great shrimp in Seattle, home of the Seahawks. Yeah, that miracle team.
Shrimp Adobo
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients:
For the chile rub:
- 4 gloves garlic, very finely chopped or put through a garlic press
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
- 3 tablespoons pure ancho chile powder
- 3 tablespoons pure pasilla chile powder
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
For the shrimp preparation:
- One batch of chile rub
- 1 ½ pounds (21-25 per pound) shrimp, cleaned, tails left on (or off for use in tacos)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup loosely packed chopped cilantro, divided
- Lime wedges
Preparation:
Make the rub. To make the rub in a molcajete, grind the garlic, add the salt and oregano, and continue grinding to a paste. Add the chile powders and vinegar and stir to make a paste. Or you could use a mini food processor to process the rub ingredients to a paste.
Coat and marinate the shrimp. Using rubber gloves if you are sensitive to chiles, work the rub into the shrimp until they are evenly coated. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.
Cook the shrimp. Heat a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat and add half the olive oil and half the shrimp. Cook, turning the shrimp 1 once, until they are just done, as overcooking will make them rubbery.
Turn them individually with kitchen tongs to make sure they all get turned. When they are done, toss them with half the cilantro. Repeat the process with the rest of the oil, shrimp, and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.
Source: Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking by Jim Peyton [University of Texas Press]
Photo Information [Top]: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/4.5 for1/50th second at ISO 2500
Photo Information [Bottom]: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/3.5 for1/30th second at ISO 500
