Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa (Recipe)

How I love shrimp...let me count the ways. My latest experimentation resulted in two very happy stomachs. Rather than regular corn or flour tortillas, I opted for lettuce. I've also been on a bit of a spicy kick lately and worked that into the recipe as well. Here's what I did.

I started off making a spicy rice pilaf. I don't really want to call it Spanish rice, although that was the original starting point. I poured about 1 tbsp. olive oil into a medium pot, the one I normally use to cook rice. I put it over medium heat and added 1 cup of white rice and toasted it, stirring constantly, until they were no longer opaque, brightly white and exhibiting a nutty aroma. I then added 1 1/3 cup chicken stock, 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice, 1 tsp. harrisa, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. coriander, 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper. Once the stock started bubbling, I turned the heat to low, put the cover on and cooked the rice for 20 minutes. Then I took the rice off the heat, leaving the lid on, and set it aside.

While the rice was cooking, I took about 1 pound of jumbo (20-25 size) shrimp and peeled, deveined, rinsed and patted them dry. I put them in a bowl and added 3 tbsp. good tequila, 3 tbsp. fresh lime juice, 1 tsp. chili flakes, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and tossed them with my hand to coat. I set that aside while I prepared the salsa.

Into a medium sized bowl I added 1 diced ripe mango, 1 diced roma tomato, 2 finely diced Serrano peppers (I removed the seeds), 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice and a small handful of roughly chopped fresh cilantro and mixed with a spoon.

Once all that was done, I poured all the contents of the shrimp bowl into a medium saute pan over medium heat and cooked them until they were no longer opaque and the liquid reduced about 1/3. Then it was time to assemble and eat.

I took the leaves of a baby romaine lettuce (although I'm sure any other lettuce would work as well), and layered rice, shrimp and mango salsa. The end result had a spicy kick with the cool crunch of the lettuce, the snap of the shrimp and the sweetness of the mangoes. Needless to say, it was delicious. All that work and it was gone in maybe 10 minutes!