I know I've made fajitas before. Chicken fajitas. Steak fajitas. But it's not like I just shake the same powdered spices over top of everything and call it a fajita. So I'm posting the shrimp.
I'll let you in on a secret. I've never cooked shrimp before. Here's the thing: I'm pretty weird on meat*. You've seen me freak out about chicken. I attribute this to a few years of not eating it. I'm still torn. And Sous Chef Brian doesn't do shrimp. So what am I going to do, buy weird gray shellfish and cook it for myself? No. Pass me the grilled cheese, thanks. But our Mystery Sunday Night Dinner Guest (MSNDG from here on) is meat-oriented. She doesn't cook much of it, but we go to a restaurant and she's all, "mmmm, pork." And I'm not. And she's fish-oriented too. Note the lack of fish recipes here. I think she's getting tired of me suggesting grilled cheese for dinner. And so we're talking about what to make for Sunday Dinner and she's all, "shrimp fajitas." That sounds delicious, but who's going to deal with the shrimp?
Ok, I am. We are. It's ok.
I don't have any photos of raw shrimp here. You don't need that. But it was easy and you can totally do it yourself, and I'm a wimp and it was delicious.
Step one. Buy shrimp. Stand in front of the shrimp counter, and ask yourself how committed you are to this. Pay more for deveined shrimp. Bring them home and devein them again. They need it. Use a toothpick if you are not interested in stabbing towards your hand with a paring knife. Remove tails. Rinse shrimp. Pat dry.
Mince garlic. Add black pepper.
Put in a bowl and add shrimp. Add olive oil to coat. Toss.
Put in wok. Or frying pan. Medium-high.
Stir pretty often. Wait for pink. Stop.
And it worked. Delicious shrimp, and in my own home. Amazing!
Wrap in tortilla with onions and pepper. Apply guacamole liberally.
Where did the onions and pepper come from? We made chicken fajitas same as always for Sous Chef Brian, and MSNDG and I just stole the veg out of the pan and put them with our shrimp.
Also, because I'm obsessed, we made a kale salad to go with it. Kale. Massaged with lime and salt. Avocado. Black beans. Corn. Onion. Cilantro. My tequila-lime dressing, sans lime since I already used it to massage the kale.
The guacamole.
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| the creepy thing in the top left is a wooden spoon. sorry for the horror. |
And salsa.
Salsa recipe in a couple of days.
*fish** is meat. **shrimp is fish.
Have you cooked anything new lately? Conquered a kitchen fear? Tell me about it. Me, I'm gonna make shrimp every time Sous Chef Brian's not around.
print recipe
Garlic Shrimp
For fajitas, or just for eating
Ingredients
- 1 pound raw shrimp, cleaned, deveined, no shell
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Toss shrimp in oil, garlic, and black pepper. Cook on med-high in wok or frying pan until pink and firm, stirring often. Serve in flour tortillas with guacamole, or some other way, they're good on their own. Prep time below assumes they're already cleaned.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 pound