They say you eat with your eyes first.
That must be true because viewing the stunning food photography by Jessica of How Sweet it is caused me to try this intriguing flavor combination: chipotle, strawberry, and black beans.
I admit, I added the black beans – the addition that really had my husband scratching his head. Instead of eating this Mexican Monday meal as tacos, we had tostadas. And tostadas call for refried beans to act as the “glue” that holds the meat and toppings in place. I didn’t think traditional refried beans would really be the way to go with shrimp so I opted for refried black beans. I’m very relieved to inform you that it worked!
I cut some serious heat from the original recipe and I still found it to pack on the spice. Because I freeze my chipotle in adobo in ice cube trays I never know until the cube thaws if I have just sauce, just pepper, or a combination of both. Jessica’s recipe calls for the sauce to be in the marinade – instead I had a pepper which I cut in half and tossed in the bag. This method is a great alternative if you don’t want too much heat but still want that smokey spice from the chipotle peppers. Additionally, I only used half of one (large) jalapeno instead of two whole jalapenos in the strawberry salsa – by all means, if you like it spicy add as much jalapeno as you like!
Chipotle Lime Shrimp
Ingredients:
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, halved
- 2 limes (zest and juice)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
Steps:
- Place all ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Cook shrimp 2 minutes on each side. I did this on a lightly greased grill pan. If you cook the shrimp in a skillet, add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
- Serve shrimp with strawberry salsa (recipe below) in a taco with lettuce and cheese or as a tostada with refried black beans and cheese.
Strawberry Salsa
Ingredients:
- 8 oz fresh strawberries, diced
- 1/2 red onion, finely diced
- 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1/4 C fresh cilantro (I used Gourmet Garden lightly dried cilantro)
- juice of 1 lime
Steps:
- Combine all ingredients and season to taste with salt. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
*These recipes are adapted from Jessica at http://www.howsweeteats.com/2014/04/chipotle-lime-shrimp-tacos-with-strawberry-salsa-you-can-totally-preorder-my-book/*
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