Shrimp and Chorizo Skillet Supper
This quick, one-pot recipe can be served with crusty bread as a Spanish “tapa” – an appetizer or snack – or a full meal by adding rice, pasta or your favorite grain. It can also be gussied up with fresh vegetables, as we did in this week’s tasting when our fellow foodie Mona Bernhardt brought along a bowl of steamed and gorgeously multicolored bell peppers to add to the mix.
Shrimp and chorizo takes its taste profile from the south of Spain where Spanish chorizo - a pork sausage spiced with smoked paprika, garlic and herbs – is sold cured and fully cooked. Here, Danny uses Ranchero Cacique brand Mexican chorizo that is raw and available in beef and pork. The Mexican sausage brings a slightly spicier flavor, and Danny added in the smoked paprika and other spices to bring out an Andalusian flair. Andouille sausage also works well and imparts its own Cajun note to the dish.
He also kicked up the tomato flavor a notch by using Ro-Tel tomatoes, a combo of tomatoes, chiles and spices. “The recipe calls for canned tomatoes, and I thought Ro-Tel would give it a special taste. It has peppers and spices in them and Stewart’s has many different flavors of Ro-Tel,” he said.
The flavor combination of this succulent stew of tomatoes, meat, seafood and veggies is recalls the influences of the Moors, Sephardic and Phoenician peoples whose palates combined to create Andalusian cuisine.
Ingredients:
1 cup of Chorizo 2 tsp smoked paprika 1 lb of shrimp peeled, deveined 1 shallot finely chopped ½ cup chicken broth or dry white wine 2 garlic cloves 15oz can of Rotel toma toes Lemon and chopped fresh parsley for serving.
Preparation: Step 1: Heat a non stick skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add Chorizo and cook until fat is rendered. Add shallot and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and paprika and continue to saute another minute.
Step 2: Add broth or wine, scraping any browned bits from the pan. Step 3: Add tomatoes and shrimp. Simmer until shrimp is cooked, approxi mantely 3 minutes.
Step 4: Serve with a generous squeeze of lemon, fresh parsley and crusty bread. Step 5: ¡Que aproveche!