vorace.: Cinco de Shrimp-o

I LOVE Mexican food! Being a vegetarian, I am a fan of "ethnic" food in general, because many of those cuisines have a wide variety of tasty and interesting vegetarian dishes, and Mexican is no exception. Since I love Mexican food so much, I wanted to make sure I celebrated Cinco de Mayo this year... by way of food. I am actually having people over this weekend, but I decided to start celebrating a little early and made these shrimp quesadillas for my boyfriend last night.

I have been making shrimp tacos for years, using a hybrid of two recipes I saw on Food Network's Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay. He was making tuna salad sandwiches and grilled shrimp. The sauce from the tuna salad sounded so delicious, I decided to make it into a drizzle for the shrimp tacos. The first time I made it, I accidentally added the onion to the sauce because I misread the recipe, but it turned out really well, so I decided to keep that little mistake the other times I made it. So, full disclosure, the sauce recipe isn't really mine, it's Bobby Flay's. You can make it his way or my way, either way it will be delish!

Like I said, I have been making those shrimp tacos for years, so I wanted to try something different instead of making the same ol' thing. I wanted to use the sauce because I love it so much, and I liked the idea of the shrimp, so I turned it all on its head and decided to make quesadillas.

I like a little crunch with my quesadilla, so I had the idea to top it with a green cabbage slaw. That idea was inspired by fish tacos my friend Alexis' dad serves every year for her birthday. I fancied it up a little and it turned out really, really well (or so my boyfriend kept telling me!). Every Mexican dish needs a good salsa, and I thought a fruit salsa would go nicely with the flavors I have going on in this quesadilla.

I am really proud of this recipe because the end result turned out to be really delicious and refreshing. If you're having a Cinco de Mayo party this weekend, this would be the perfect recipe for you to serve to your quests and they will love you for it! I was thinking you could even chop the quesadillas into one inch by one inch squares instead of large wedges, top each square with a little slaw, salsa, and stick a tooth pick through the center. Then set out the sauce for dipping and you have party-friendly bite-size appetizers.

With all of that said, let's get cookin'!

Ingredients:

Sauce

1/4 cup lemon juice (about juice of one lemon)

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 habanero pepper, seeds removed

1 tablespoon chopped red onion

Place a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat. Pour the 1/4 cup of lemon juice into the pot along with the 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest.

Bring to a boil and let reduce slightly. Remove from heat after about three minutes. Let cool.

Place the habanero, red onion, and mayo in your food processor. When the lemon sauce has cooled, add it to the processor.

Turn the food processor on and let it chop and combine all of the ingredients until they make a smooth sauce.

Set aside or refrigerate until you are ready to serve it with the quesadillas.

Salsa

Juice of half a lime

1 cup diced mango (I was able to make one cup diced mango from the flesh of one mango)

3/4 cup diced cucumber

1 tablespoon diced red onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine mango, cucumber, and red onion in a small bowl. Pour the lime juice over fruit & veggies, and sprinkle with salt. Stir to combine.

Refrigerate until you are ready to top your quesadillas.

Slaw

1/3 green cabbage, shredded

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the cabbage in a medium sized mixing bowl, and drizzle the lemon juice over it. Sprinkle with the salt and cilantro. Stir to combine.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator to let the cabbage macerate and soften while you make the quesadillas.

Quesadillas

Half a dozen large shrimp - peeled, deveined, tail off

1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

Juice of half a lime

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

3 large burrito sized flour tortillas

1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

Set a large cast iron skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Drizzle in the EVOO.

Place the shrimp in a small mixing bowl and pour the lime juice on them. Sprinkle with the one tablespoon of FCBP. Toss to evenly coat the shrimp in the lime juice & pepper.

Pour the shrimp into the heated cast iron skillet.

Let them cook until they are firm and pink.

Remove them from the pan and place them on your cutting board. Rinse out the cast iron skillet immediately because you are going to use that to cook your quesadillas. Place the skillet back on the heat.

Chop the shrimp into small, bite size pieces.

Lay out a tortilla on a dinner plate. Sprinkle a third of the queso fresco onto half of the tortilla.

Then layer a third of your shrimp on top of the queso fresco.

Next, sprinkle a third of the cilantro over the shrimp.

Last, distribute a third of the Monterey jack cheese over the shrimp.

Fold over the empty side of the tortilla.

Use a spatula to gently transfer the quesadilla from the plate into the skillet. (Your skillet should be over medium-high heat from cooking the shrimp.)

Press down on the top of the tortilla with your spatula.

Let the it cook on the first side for about one minute. Use the spatula to carefully flip over the quesadilla to cook on the other side.

Cook on the second side for one minute.

Remove the quesadilla from the skillet and place on your cutting board. Repeat this process two more times so that you will have three total quesadillas.

Slice each quesadilla into three or four even wedges.

Place a few slices onto your dinner plate.