Monday Night Shrimp Tacos

In my continuous effort to stay warm during this rare, cold, spring weather, I decided to bring Mexican flare to dinner with tacos!

Tacos are a great way to get dinner on the table in under 30 minutes AND clean out your fridge. You can top them with virtually anything.

Sometimes the best dinners are ones just thrown together. I make a list of what I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry and build the meal around a protein (meat, seafood, beans, tempeh, etc). In this case, it was shrimp.

I had corn tortillas, sour cream, random vegetables that needed to be eaten and some leftover chipotle chilies in adobo sauce. So I started to assemble. I combined the sour cream, lime juice and chilies to make a spicy cream sauce and seasoned the shrimp with my homemade chili rub. With everything assembled, voila dinner in 20 minutes!

Here are some suggested ingredients to mix and match for a quick taco night:

Protein - chicken (ground or whole), Beef (ground or whole), black beans, sautéed tofu or tempeh, shrimp or fish

Tortillas - corn or flour (soft or hard), or large lettuce leaves if you are on a low-carb diet

Vegetable toppers - lettuce, endive, spinach, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, bell peppers, jalapeño, mango, pineapple, onions, scallions, mushrooms, corn, tomatillo, sweet potato, chilies, herbs such as cilantro or parsley

Other toppings - sour cream, guacamole, hot sauce, any kind of cheese or salsa, lemon or lime wedges for garnish

These are just some suggestions. Get creative and have fun!! Don't be afraid to use different and new ingredients.

Monday Night Shrimp Tacos

Updated July 7, 2013

Yields: 4 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5-7 minutes 

Corn tortillas
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined 
2 tablespoons blackening rub (could use any blackening spice or a key lime seasoning)
1/4 lime, juiced
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from can of chipotle chilies

Toppings:
endive, chopped
cherry tomatoes, halved
avocado, diced
fresh parsley, chopped
additional lime wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 375F.

Prep all the toppings and set aside. Combine lime juice, sour cream and chili sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

Spray the corn tortillas with non-stick cooking spray on both sides. Heat in the oven 3 minutes per side. Season the shrimp with the chili rub (or favorite spice).

Heat a large saute pan or grill pan on medium-high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Saute the shrimp 2 minutes per side and remove from heat immediately. 

Assemble the tacos and serve with extra lime wedges.