Enchilado de camarones, or Cuban shrimp creole

Sunday, October 24, 2010




The day before my wedding my mom drove down to Kemah and picked up 50 pounds of shrimp. That's right, I said 50 pounds. My family loves shrimp. Grilled, scampi, bacon-wrapped, boiled... Cuban style? Well, I don't think they've tried that. Some of my favorite memories of family include these tiny, shelled morsels. Especially with Grandpa Sporn. He was asked what he wanted for Thanksgiving the year we were all together and he said "Shrimp!" Of course! Like it was assumed! How could you turn him down? So on the day before my wedding I walked out to the back porch only to find all the men in my family peeling the largest bowl of shrimp I've ever seen. And it stunk. :) But I can't thank them enough. Cooking for your own wedding is a memory I'm thankful for every day. Family and friends all cooking together for my big day. I'm always looking for ways to cook shrimp to pay tribute to my family, my grandpa, my favorite crustaceans.

So a few weeks ago my good friend Rodney introduced me to a Cuban restaurant called Cafe Piquet. Of course I wanted to go since I am now a big supporter of El Rey (Best cheap Cuban food). And it was delicious!!! But at first everything on the menu was foreign to me. Since I wasn't about to ruin a perfectly nice meal with friends over an upset stomach, I order the Cuban shrimp creole. Sounds safe, right? When it came out it was a huge pile of jasmine rice, fried plantains, and a small bowl filled with the most deliciously smelling creole! Plump, juicy shrimp with sweet, spicy, tangy tomato stew. OMG! After that first bite I've been craving more. I'm constantly day-dreaming about ordering it at the office, then driving over to pick it up and bringing it back for lunch. But then I worry about it smelling too good and having to share. :(

Lucky for me everything is on the internet! I found a recipe that I thought was close enough and made my own from it. And this is how it goes:

Cuban shrimp creole

1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (1.5 if you want it meatier)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon butter
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 cup large onion, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 14 oz can of tomatoes (I use Hunts, has best flavor for the price)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cooking white wine
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or omit if you don't want it spicy, but it's creole, right?)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (or just use the juice from the canned tomatoes if you don't have paste)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/ teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Juice from 1/2 lemon



Optional:
Fried plantains (how to cook them is included)
Jasmine rice
Cilantro, minced



In a large pan, add the olive oil and melt the butter until it begins to foam over low-medium heat. Add the onion, and green bell pepper and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Add the garlic cloves and saute an additional 2 minutes. While that is cooking, empty the contects of the canned tomatoes into a bowl. Squish them up with your fingers. Add the squished tomatoes (not the juice unless you don't have paste), tomato paste, water, wine, cayenne pepper, cumin, sugar, salt and pepper and stir until all the ingredients are mixed well. Cover, raise the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes.





Add the thawed, deveined shrimp. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, allowing the shrimp to shrink and change color. This also serves to allow the shrimp to soak in all the ingredients. Stir in the lemon juice after the simmering.



While that is simmering, if you want fried plantains now is the best time. Slice to approximately 1/2 inch size chunks.



Plantains are best when they are yellow and black. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Turn the heat to medium. Fry the plantains for 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown on each side.



They should be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Allow them to cool off on a paper towel and sprinkle them with a little salt. I chopped them up and mixed them with the creole on my plate.



Serve over jasmine rice. Yum. :)



Love shrimp!! And it didn't take that long, I will save this as a weeknight meal.

BJ's second bowl.



This is what it looked like after my second plate.



Yeah, I killed it.