Shrimp tacos are fantastic!
Our local HEB Supermarket has a very friendly guy in the seafood department who volunteered a suggestion on preparation that I thought was a little unconventional – frying the shrimp in bacon fat! I was going to use cooking oil or olive oil, but he assured me that all the local restaurants used bacon grease. I have no idea if that is correct, and various food blogs contain wildly different opinions about it; some contributors say it enhanced the flavor and others say it detracted from the shrimp flavor. I tried it, and thought it was great – but you have a choice here.
In the Rio Grande Valley we have easy access to Texas Gulf Shrimp – highly recommended over imported shrimp.
- Yield: 6 tacos
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
Fantastic Shrimp Tacos
This could easily become your favorite taco. Simple to make and very good. Prior to this recipe I always thought that tacos should be made with beef, pork, or chicken. Then I remembered a gathering we were at in Alaska where we were volunteering. One staffer at the visitor center made Halibut Tacos, and the were fantastic! So I decided to come up with a recipe for Shrimp Tacos.
Here is an overview of the recipe. Shrimp are sauteed in bacon grease with spices added along with a mixture with diced green pepper, minced garlic, and tomato. Cilantro is diced and mixed with sour cream. Simple!
Directions:
Wash and pat the cilantro between paper towels. Dice the cilantro leaves and mix into the sour cream for use later as a condiment.
Peel and devein the shrimp, cut in half and set aside. Seed and dice the tomato and green (bell) pepper. In a large frying pan, fry the two strips of bacon at medium heat until about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat have been rendered. Remove the bacon, reserving the bacon grease.
Mix the spices and garlic into the bacon grease.
With the skillet at medium-high heat, add the shrimp, peppers and tomato to the seasoned bacon grease. Saute for about 3 minutes, tossing frequently until shrimp are opaque. Add wine, if used, and stir until the liquid is reduced by about half.
To serve, spread cilantro infused sour cream on a tortilla, add the shrimp mixture and optional toppings of your choice.
Ingredients
- Shrimp - about 1 Lb, peeled and deveined
- Sour Cream - 2/3 Cup
- Cilantro - 1/2 Cup leaves, diced, loosely packed
- bacon - 2 slices
- roma tomato - 1 tomato, seeded and finely diced
- green pepper - 1/4 pepper, seeded and finely diced
- garlic - 1/2 tsp, minced - fresh or canned
- cumin - 1/2 tsp.
- salt - 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
- Cayenne Pepper - 1/4 tsp.
- white wine - 1/8 Cup dry wine
Instructions
Peel and devein the shrimp and set aside.
Wash and pat dry the cilantro. Dice the cilantro leaves and mix into the sour cream.
Seed and dice the tomato and green (bell) pepper.
In a frying pan, fry the two strips of bacon until about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat have been rendered.
Mix spices and garlic into the bacon grease.
With the skillet at medium-high heat, add the shrimp, peppers and tomato to the seasoned bacon grease. Saute for about 3 minutes, tossing frequently until shrimp are opaque. Add wine, if used, and stir until the liquid is reduced by about half.
To serve, spread cilantro infused sour cream on a tortilla, add the shrimp mixture and optional toppings of your choice.
