Ever have a dish that you feel way too much emotion about? For some reason this dish has evoked everything from wistfulness to almost rage in me and it isn’t the dish’s fault at all. It all started when I saw the gorgeous photos in Real Simple magazine for this Camarones Enchilados recipe and immediately bookmarked it to make in the future. Not for the first time, the photo sold me on the dish before I’d even read the recipe. Then I found out that the recipe is from one of my favorite food bloggers, Always Order Dessert (otherwise known as Alejandra Ramos) and it made me even more convinced that I had to make it ASAP. I went right out after work to gather all the ingredients and called my friend at the last minute to see if he wanted to come have dinner with me. He couldn’t make it and I felt like the dish got rejected. So about a week later I decide to make it again, and by some cruel twist of fate, the friend I invited THAT night canceled on me at the last minute! I realize that I’m projecting my own feelings onto the dish but I feel bad for it and have been hoarding it for myself ever since for fear of hurting its pride even more. Those people don’t know what they’re missing! Maybe one day I’ll manage to throw a gathering and serve this dish to people who actually show up . . .
The first time I made this recipe I followed it exactly as written and liked it a lot, but I wanted to make some small changes to make it suit my taste better. The biggest change I made is to double the wine: I just love the taste of the shrimp in wine so I use a full cup instead of the 1/2 cup called for in the original recipe. This means that my dish has more liquid than the original but that works well for me because I like it best served over white rice, which soaks up the liquid beautifully! The one negative side effect of using so much wine is that the shrimp turns a rather ugly shade of purplish red (as you can see in the picture above). This is definitely not the beautiful dish that caught my eye in the picture but believe me, it tastes as good as that photo looks! I also omitted the capers and doubled the garlic, mostly because I always have garlic on hand but not capers so much. Enjoy!
Camarones Enchilados
Adapted from Real Simple, recipe by Alejandra Ramos
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for serving
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 14.5-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and crushed
- 1 1/4 lbs peeled and deveined medium shrimp
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Directions
Heat oil in a large heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, crushed red pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cilantro, wine, and tomatoes, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is slightly thickened, 20-25 minutes.
Add the shrimp and lime juice and cook until the shrimp are just done, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve over rice or with tortillas.
