Fresh squeezed orange and lemon juice with garlic, onion, tomatoes, seasonings and a bit of olive oil make a dreamy sauce for the shrimp to bathe in. Whether you have fresh caught or frozen shrimp, you can have this saucy shrimp dish on your table in less time than it takes a pot of rice to cook.
So you might want to make couscous or angel hair pasta instead. They cook much faster.
This was a recipe borne of desperation on a busy work day. So busy I had no time to eat. I got to the point where I was STARVING, like food emergency kind of starving. But I was more than a little tired of grabbing tasteless, less than stellar food to get me by. Sometimes I’m prepared for moments like this–I’ve pre-made food on the weekend to help me through a busy work week. But last weekend everything I cooked went to friends, with no leftovers. This is a joyful thing for someone who loves to cook and share food, but not such a good thing when you look in your fridge for something quick to eat and all you see is food that needs to be prepared.
Mostly veggies and fruit. And I needed some protein. Eggs and cheese are great for protein, but I eat them so often … and I snack on tuna a LOT. (Thanks to my kids who make up the tuna! I pull it out of the fridge, scoop it up with my sourdough crackers and my hunger is abated. Thankfully, they don’t mind.)
But today, no, I HAD to have something different. Fortunately for me, the server was running extraordinarily slow and my query was taking forEVER to finish. This meant I could sneak in the kitchen while the server was thinking and find me some nourishment. I did a quick google search and discovered this little gem of a recipe. Hurrah for blogger recipe inspiration and YES, frozen shrimp to the rescue!
Shrimp are so quick to cook, I knew that even if my shrimp were frozen I could have some ready to eat in no time. I happened to have some cooked couscous in my fridge, so I warmed that up while I was prepping my meal. 20 minutes later, I had a delicious meal in front of me. I felt super sassy that I’d managed to pull this off in the middle of a busy work day. The query was STILL running! I alerted my database guy and he looked into it, but killed my query off in the process.
Ah well, at least my body was happy, my hunger abated. I found other things to work on while he was investigating and I was able to run the query later that day in less than a minute and it told me what I needed to know.
I knew I’d made more shrimp than I could eat so I stashed the rest away in the fridge and made mental notes to go back and photograph it. That was today, a beautiful weekend afternoon. After photographing my beautiful shrimp with what was left of the couscous, I made myself a fabulous salad. I set my leftover shrimp on fresh garden greens, added juicy wedges of orange, sweet onions, avocado, toasted pine nuts, the last of the couscous, fresh mint, cilantro and, for the dressing, that sumptuous citrus sauce. My salad was bursting with fresh, juicy flavor. I sat on the patio in the sunshine and enjoyed … every … last … bite. I almost took more pics for another post, but didn’t. Maybe another time I will.
You can enjoy this shrimp however you choose:
- on a bed of rice, couscous, quinoa or pasta (for heart health, I recommend brown, black or wild rice or a whole grain couscous or pasta (or even a bean-based pasta) with a side of veggies such as asparagus or steamed broccoli
- over a bed of greens with your choice of toppings and the shrimp sauce as your dressing (see above!)
- on crusty whole grain sourdough toasts, with a little schmear of seasoned cream cheese and then loads of yummy shrimp on top (I recommend Greek cream cheese as it’s higher in protein and lower in fat and calories.)
FoodieCrush has even more suggestions for you. Of course, I couldn’t just make her recipe as she posted it. I had to tweak it and make it my own. Feel free to tweak it to your liking and make it YOURS.
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Saucy Citrus Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 – 3 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
- A pinch of red pepper flakes
- Juice of 1 big orange (about 1/2 cup)
- Juice of 1/2 a large lemon (about 1/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato, with juices
- 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning (or to taste)
- 8 oz. fresh or frozen shrimp, peeled, tail on
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro (or basil, mint, parsley), plus extra for garnish
- Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium frying pan over medium heat, add the olive oil. Swirl it around, then add the garlic and onion and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add the pepper flakes, orange and lemon juices along with the Old Bay Seasoning. Bring to a simmer, then cook until reduced by half (about 5 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and stir and cook a couple minutes longer.
- Add the shrimp (it’s ok to add them frozen!), sprinkle lightly with salt & pepper and cook until the shrimp are pink on the bottom,. Watch them closely and flip each shrimp as soon as it’s pink on the bottom. Cook until each shrimp is pink on the other side too, removing each shrimp to a serving bowl or plate as soon as it’s curled and pink.
- Taste the sauce and add seasoning, salt & pepper to your liking. Serve the shrimp immediately with the sauce.
Notes
Adapted from Foodie Crush
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