Shrimp with Salsa Fresca

For years, I’ve been looking for THE perfect book to teach me to cook. I’ve assembled quite a collection of cookbooks in the process. Many of them have failed to inspire, and I was ready to decide that cooking is just one of those things that I’d have to buckle down and do, with or without inspiration.

This past week, though, I may have found it – THE cookbook that may end our family’s long history of meal flops.

Authored by Chef John Ash, “Cooking One on One” takes an aspiring cook through flavor-makers (such as salsas and marinades), then basic techniques (soups, oven-dried foods, and so on), and finally main ingredients (meats, beans, sea foods, soy foods, etc.). He emphasizes home-grown and free-range ingredients, which suits our family well.

I questioned the book for a brief moment when I realized Iā€™d have to start shopping at an actual dedicated grocery store, with all four tiny munchkins in tow. But I think it will be well worth it.

Today I’m posting my try at the first recipe in his book: Salsa Fresca or Cruda. For copyright reasons, I won’t post the whole recipe, but I’m sure there are many variations that would be delicious! (More thoughts on copyright in a future post…)

On the pages following this recipe, Ash suggests meals to make with Salsa Fresca. I chose his marinated shrimp menu suggestion.

Ready? Here we go:

Start with raw shrimp, size 16-20. I used frozen shrimp – which Ash says is not that much different from fresh. Thaw by running cold water over the shrimp.

While the shrimp is thawing, make the marinade.

The fresh oregano was fantastic in this recipe, but dried would work, if you don’t want to shop around for fresh.

The next step is peeling and deveining the thawed shrimp – the longest part of the process.

While the shrimp was marinating in the refrigerator…

… I made the salsa fresca.

You can add all kinds of things to salsa fresca! I used parsley because my husband doesn’t like cilantro.

I took these pictures upside-down ( I wasn’t upside-down… just the picture was flipped) so I didn’t realize until afterward that the chopped ingredients were arranged in the shape of a heart. Awww… I’ve been trying to think of “spicy” captions for a card using this photo.

Moving along…

I added basic seasonings to the salsa… plus a kick of lime or lemon juice.

YUM!

Now the shrimp is ready to be cooked.

John Ash gave two options for cooking the shrimp: grilling or broiling.

Confession #1: I don’t know how to use our grill. I hope that will be remedied by the end of my year of cooking.

Confession #2: The last time I broiled anything was nearly twelve years ago, when we were first married. I caught my hot pad on fire. I’ve successfully avoided broiling ever since then.

This time, I opted for broiling. At least I know the potential pitfalls of that method!

I placed the marinated shrimp onto the broiling pan. A skewer would make the turning process much easier, but our skewers are still packed away in a moving box, apparently along with my vegetable peelers and my husband’s grill tongs.

I set the rack at the highest level, set the broiler at the highest temperature, and carefully set the broiling pan in the oven. I let the shrimp broil for one to two minutes on each side. Perfect!

I’m chalking this one up to a catastrophe-free meal. And oh my, so incredibly flavorful!

I ate and ate and ate and ate. This stuff was delicious!

I had to chuckle when I read that John Ash eats this with his fingers. That’s exactly what we did.

It might become tradition to post a picture of how my kids occupied themselves while I cooked. So here we go…




What My Kids Did While I Cooked:

What gets me is the big car wheel in the middle of the bouquet. It’s like they carved out a spot specifically for it. What role do you suppose the carrot played in the fiasco?

I let the troublemakers have some of my shrimp anyway. šŸ˜‰

Yes, my son always looks so lovingly at his food. I hope one day I’ll have some little chefs on my hands.




Thanks for reading. Happy Wednesday!




Comments
8 Responses to “Shrimp with Salsa Fresca”
  1. Mom says:

    Positively beautiful photos. You should be working for a magazine.

    In your spare time.

    Would that then make that a spare tire?

    • Deborah.J says:

      Thanks! And yeah, I might get “tired” of it if it were my job. But you never know…
      Anyway, there are thousands upon thousands of people whose photos blow mine out of the water. I’m just dipping my toes in for fun. šŸ™‚

  2. Shelly says:

    Loved this and am almost inspired to cook more… but more inspired to drive down and eat with you. I do dishes… or volunteer Calvin to šŸ™‚ PS- I am very good at chasing animals that are out of their corrals or pastures and can verify that they always end up on a blacktop road or in a cemetery pushing over the gravestones.

    • Deborah.J says:

      Yes, come down and eat with me! šŸ™‚ Be forewarned… Last time I had a friend over, I substituted baking soda for baking powder in her pancakes. Oy. But I was glad for the company!

      Pushing OVER gravestones??! That must have been fun to clean up!

  3. Karen Wolfe says:

    Delightful, Debbie!

  4. Emily says:

    awesome pictures!! it made it look so good I would even eat it (and I don’t like shrimp) šŸ™‚

  5. Jemima says:

    this looks lovely, i might just be brave enough to try this šŸ™‚

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