Here’s another great suggestion from Jim at the store who happens to be our Disney aficionado. Narcoossee’s, an exquisite waterfront pavilion at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, published a shrimp scampi recipe that involves combining eight different ingredients with olive oil in order to make a harissa paste. By replacing our own harissa infused olive oil as the base of the sauce we were able to save time and drastically reduce the list of ingredients. The tangerine balsamic also gives this dish a fresh citrus note. Of course, we went back to the Carolina Fish Market for the freshest shrimp in the region. Their new store in the South Park area will open soon – very convenient! As an appetizer or an entrée you’ll enjoy the spicy kick from this shrimp dish and you may even venture out trying this harissa and tangerine combination with other seafood. Let us know what you discover!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound fresh large shrimp from the Carolina Fish Market
- 1/3 cup Olive This! Harissa Olive Oil
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Olive This! Tangerine Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
- kosher salt
DIRECTIONS
Rinse shrimp and pat dry. One of the tradeoffs to getting the freshest shrimp (which is well worth it) is peeling and deveining them. There are several opinions on how to prepare fresh shrimp. Some chefs prefer to cook the shrimp with the shells on and remove them afterwards; they feel the flavor stays within the shells while the shrimp cooks. Others remove the shells beforehand to make it easier. There are also personal preferences to leaving the tails on or off the shrimp when cooking and serving. Some even find deveining shrimp optional however keep in mind, for larger shrimp not only is it unappealing to the eye but the “vein” is actually the digestive tract of the shrimp which could contain a lot of grit. Another alternative is to buy frozen shrimp already peeled and deveined. It costs a bit more and isn’t fresh but the advantage to this option is the savings in time.
We chose to peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Deveining shrimp involves making a shallow slit down the back and fishing out the “vein”. If you choose to peel and devein your shrimp, you may find this short video from epicurious.com to be helpful.
Heat the 1 tablespoon of butter and 1/3 cup of harissa EVOO into a skillet or sauté pan until just shimmering. Toss in the prepared shrimp and sprinkle with the 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Sauté until the shrimp begin to firm up, turn pink and slightly opaque, about 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of tangerine balsamic over the shrimp. Mix well to combine with the sauce and season with more salt to taste. That’s it!
Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve immediately as an appetizer or with rice, pasta or couscous as an entrée. Enjoy!
MAKES 8-10 SERVINGS AS AN APPETIZER OR 4 SERVINGS AS AN ENTREE
Have a comment? We’d love to hear from you. Have you tried this dish? Do you have a variation that you think others will enjoy? Leave us a comment below (providing your email address is not necessary).