A much needed taste of summer....

I am not a winter person. In fact, its safe to say, i hate the winter. The cold, the frigid wind and the constant feeling of being chilled to the bone is NOT my idea of fun. I love to feel the sun on my face while sipping an ice cold drink and relaxing with a great book. Since that is still a few months away *sigh*, I wanted to re-create the summer feeling with food. Something about the hot summer months lends itself to eating light and delicately flavored food. So I cranked up the heat in the apartment and sat down to dinner with Mike to savor my summer inspired fare. :)

Enjoy!

Shrimp Taco with Mango and Avocado Salsa

A few things I've learned along the way:
1. Flavor every layer of a dish. That means flavor with salt, pepper etc as you add each new layer of ingredients.
2. How do you know when an avocado is ready to be used? Most fruits turn black when they begin to spoil. Not an acvocado! It's green when it's raw and turns black when it's ripe. Be sure to use only ripened avocados unless the recipe specifically calls for the raw version. Also, lighly squeeze the avocado. One that's ready to be used will yield to the touch without caving in.


Ingredients:
1 pound of shrimp, deveined and cleaned
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 pinch of Indian red pepper (may substitute with cayenne)
Tortillas
Juice of one lime
Mango salsa, recipe here
Avocado salsa, recipe here
Cilantro, roughly chopped
Vegetable oil, as needed

Directions:
Thoroughly clean the shrimp. Drizzle with vegetable oil and season with salt, black pepper and indian red pepper or cayenne pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes while the shrimp marinates.

In the meantime, warm the tortillas on stovetop. Cover the tortillas with a lid/aluminum foil to keep it warm.

Cook the shrimp. <<side note: click here for a refresher on how to cook shrimp>>

Now, it's time to build the taco. Layer a few pieces of shrimp on a tortilla and add the mango and avocado salsa and enjoy. It's that easy!

Till next time, To Life!