Pan Roasted Shrimp With Mezcal Tomatoes And Arbol Chiles Recipes

Steps:

• Gather your ingredients.
• For the crema: Seed and chop green chili. Halve and pit avocado. To a food processor or high power blender, add the juice of 1 lime, chili, scoop in the avocado, onion and crema or sour cream and process into a smooth sauce. Season with salt to taste.
• For the tacos: Finely chop onion. Place tomatoes in a strainer to drain. Pat shrimp dry. Peel garlic and thinly slice, grate or chop garlic.
• Heat a large cast-iron or wide, shallow skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Melt butter into oil and when it foams add onion, garlic, cumin, paprika and chipotle in adobo. Swirl and toss a minute. Add tomatoes, cook a minute or 2 more, then add mezcal and a drizzle of honey -- be mindful of a flare up. Swirl a minute more. Add the shrimp to the sauce, season with salt and pepper and cook, turning occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes. Add juice of lime, remove from heat.
• Char tortillas in a hot stainless pan over high heat or over open flame on gas burners. Blister the tortillas 20 to 30 seconds and stack in a cloth napkin or towel to keep warm.
• Serve shrimp in serving bowl with tortillas, crema, lettuce, lime wedges and toppings alongside.
• To build tacos: Slather or squirt sauce on tortilla, top with lettuce, shrimp -- squirt on more lime juice of you like, cilantro, jalapenos, radishes, cheese and scallions.

Steps:

• MAKE THE BROTH: 1. On a hot grill or on a grill pan, roast tomatoes until the skins are charred and soft. On the same grill, toast chiles for a few seconds to soften. Transfer tomatoes and chiles into a blender and purée with clam juice. Strain. MAKE THE SHRIMP: 2. Prepare and assemble all ingredients for the shrimp and have them near the stove. 3. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high and add clarified butter. When it's hot, add the arbol chiles. Fry lightly until they just begin to darken, which could take less than a minute. 4. Add garlic, onion and poblano chile and sauté for about 1 minute. 5. Add shrimp and cook for about 20 seconds. Add mezcal (if using a gas range, remove pan from the heat as you add the alcohol). 6. Cook for about 30 seconds and add tomato broth. 7. Simmer for another minute and add lime juice, cilantro and butter. Reduce for 30 more seconds, remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if needed. Serve shrimp and sauce with lime wedges.