Vibrant shrimp in a pungent chili pickle.
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Remove seeds and veins from the chilis. Powder the peppercorns, cloves, and allspice berries in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.
Warm oil over medium heat in a saucepan and fry chilis on both sides just until pliable and a shade or two darker - don't let them burn. Scoop out the the chilis as you go, then use the same oil to fry the onions for a few minutes, until pale and soft. Add the ground spices and garlic and saute a minute longer, then remove from heat. Let cool a minute or two, then scoop the fried vegetable and spice mix into a blender jar, reserving the oil in the pan.
Add the sauteed chilis and the vinegar to the blender jar and blend all into a smooth, thick puree. Add a little extra vinegar if you need to get things going, but don't add water.
Reheat the oil to medium high (at most, so it doesn't spatter all over the place), and then carefully pour in the puree. Add the bay leaves, oregano, and an initial quantity of salt. Cook over medium heat for about fifteen minutes, stirring very often, to thicken the sauce and let the flavors blend. It should be about as thick as ketchup.
Store the sauce in a jar in the fridge for a few days to ripen before using - though you can also (sigh) use it right away. It will keep for weeks, especially if the sides of the jar are kept clean and you float a bit of extra olive oil on top.
Let's work with a pound of raw shrimp, poached until just done. For this recipe, I normally buy EZ-Peel shrimp (26-30 to the pound) and completely shell them, consigning the shells to the freezer for stock. I also like to slice the shrimp horizontally, holding the knife blade parallel to the cutting board.
Heat a couple of quarts of salted water to boiling. Add two bay leaves, a few whole peppercorns and whole coriander seeds if you have them, plus a shake of red pepper flakes and/or a half teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning. Have large bowl of ice water handy! Add the peeled, bisected shrimp to the boiling water and raise heat to high, if it's not already there. After a minute or two - the water will likely not have returned to the boil - start testing the shrimp. By eating them, of course, though you can also see if they are uniformly cooked through when you cut them in half.
As soon as the rawness has disappeared, scoop them out into the ice bath. Let them chill, literally and figuratively, for a minute or two. Drain and store in the fridge until ready for assembly.
To serve, toss about 3 T of the Tampico sauce with the shrimp and the cubed cheese. Test for salt. Plate up and garnish with extra coriander and, ideally, a border of vegetable escabeche.
This is an intense and drool-inspiring dish that really does get your appetite heading north. As part of a spread, a pound of shrimp will serve around a dozen, or you can plate this up as individual appetizers for 6 or 8. The extra sauce keeps well, and can be used on any kind of seafood taco, or heated up and served over fish and rice.
If you've never sliced shrimp in half horizontally (a trick I got from Chinese cookbooks), give it a try. The cooked shrimp corkscrew up like DNA spirals, and make a nice single bite on the end of a fork or toothpick.
The Tampico-style sauce is very much based on a recipe from Diane Kennedy's august tome, The Cuisines of Mexico. The cheese, I will tell you, is my thing, and is a nice relief from the bite of the sauce. I use Greek manouri because it's a much better queso fresco than the queso fresco I can buy in Massachusetts - even in Lawrence, which is essentially Santo Domingo. But use any nice, plain, soothing fresh white cheese. Mozarella works. Even feta, if it's not too sharp and briny.
Ingredients
Directions
Remove seeds and veins from the chilis. Powder the peppercorns, cloves, and allspice berries in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.
Warm oil over medium heat in a saucepan and fry chilis on both sides just until pliable and a shade or two darker - don't let them burn. Scoop out the the chilis as you go, then use the same oil to fry the onions for a few minutes, until pale and soft. Add the ground spices and garlic and saute a minute longer, then remove from heat. Let cool a minute or two, then scoop the fried vegetable and spice mix into a blender jar, reserving the oil in the pan.
Add the sauteed chilis and the vinegar to the blender jar and blend all into a smooth, thick puree. Add a little extra vinegar if you need to get things going, but don't add water.
Reheat the oil to medium high (at most, so it doesn't spatter all over the place), and then carefully pour in the puree. Add the bay leaves, oregano, and an initial quantity of salt. Cook over medium heat for about fifteen minutes, stirring very often, to thicken the sauce and let the flavors blend. It should be about as thick as ketchup.
Store the sauce in a jar in the fridge for a few days to ripen before using - though you can also (sigh) use it right away. It will keep for weeks, especially if the sides of the jar are kept clean and you float a bit of extra olive oil on top.
Let's work with a pound of raw shrimp, poached until just done. For this recipe, I normally buy EZ-Peel shrimp (26-30 to the pound) and completely shell them, consigning the shells to the freezer for stock. I also like to slice the shrimp horizontally, holding the knife blade parallel to the cutting board.
Heat a couple of quarts of salted water to boiling. Add two bay leaves, a few whole peppercorns and whole coriander seeds if you have them, plus a shake of red pepper flakes and/or a half teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning. Have large bowl of ice water handy! Add the peeled, bisected shrimp to the boiling water and raise heat to high, if it's not already there. After a minute or two - the water will likely not have returned to the boil - start testing the shrimp. By eating them, of course, though you can also see if they are uniformly cooked through when you cut them in half.
As soon as the rawness has disappeared, scoop them out into the ice bath. Let them chill, literally and figuratively, for a minute or two. Drain and store in the fridge until ready for assembly.
To serve, toss about 3 T of the Tampico sauce with the shrimp and the cubed cheese. Test for salt. Plate up and garnish with extra coriander and, ideally, a border of vegetable escabeche.
This is an intense and drool-inspiring dish that really does get your appetite heading north. As part of a spread, a pound of shrimp will serve around a dozen, or you can plate this up as individual appetizers for 6 or 8. The extra sauce keeps well, and can be used on any kind of seafood taco, or heated up and served over fish and rice.
If you've never sliced shrimp in half horizontally (a trick I got from Chinese cookbooks), give it a try. The cooked shrimp corkscrew up like DNA spirals, and make a nice single bite on the end of a fork or toothpick.
The Tampico-style sauce is very much based on a recipe from Diane Kennedy's august tome, The Cuisines of Mexico. The cheese, I will tell you, is my thing, and is a nice relief from the bite of the sauce. I use Greek manouri because it's a much better queso fresco than the queso fresco I can buy in Massachusetts - even in Lawrence, which is essentially Santo Domingo. But use any nice, plain, soothing fresh white cheese. Mozarella works. Even feta, if it's not too sharp and briny.
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