fat tuesday food

My community is lucky enough to have a wonderful family-owned grocery. Like most local stores, it serves different niche markets. Ward's is the best place in town to go for fresh, locally grown veggies and plants. Their meat department is amazing -- they cut thick steaks fresh every day and have yummy homemade sausage you can buy by the pound. It's also the best natural foods store in town with an impressive bulk section filled with hard-to-find ingredients. But they also sell pig's feet and other classic southern food fixings. Add in the largest chocolate selection I have ever seen in any grocery store and an impressive beer collection, and what's not to love?

While I enjoy spending time roaming through the aisles looking at all the new products they have on the shelves, the store's smaller size means I can't guarantee that any preferred pantry staple will be there. This means that I swing by the neighboring Publix afterwards to stock up on cheaper staples and favored brands (I know I'm not the only one who does this because I always see at least one person at Publix who I saw at Ward's just minutes earlier.) Since my budget requires me to be an organized shopper, I usually try to plan a week's worth of meals before going grocery shopping but I always leave wiggle room just in case. It's a good thing I do otherwise I never would have come up with tonight's dinner.

Ward's had a great sale on large shrimp for the Super Bowl, so I decided to buy a pound. Limes were also on sale so I threw a couple of those in my basket. Fresh garlic and scallions were on my list already, and as I left Ward's a plan for dinner began to emerge. As you can tell from earlier food posts, most of my creations have a Latin flair. This one is no different. At Publix I bought my favorite canned black beans that already include some spices, as well as some basic white rice and whole-wheat tortillas. This is what I ended up making:


pen loves paper's Garlic-Lime Shrimp with Herbed Black Beans and Rice

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
Zest of 2 limes (retain limes for juicing)
salt and pepper to taste
5 scallions, chopped
1/4-1/2 teasp. red pepper flakes
4 cloves of garlic, minced
olive oil
1 cup rice, cooked
1 can black beans
1/2 tblsp. cumin
cilantro
parsley
tortillas

Add shrimp, lime zest, 3 cloves minced garlic, 3 chopped scallions, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes to a non-reactive (glass) dish. Add enough olive oil to coat the shrimp and mix until shrimp is covered. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the rice according to package directions. Chop up a handful of cilantro and parsley. Add the black beans into a saucepan and set on the stove at low heat. Add half of the cilantro and parsley, the remaining chopped garlic clove, cumin, and one chopped scallion to the black beans. Squeeze in the juice of half of a lime. Stir to combine, then occasionally until warm. Once the rice is cooked, add the remaining cilantro, parsley, and scallion. Squeeze some of the remaining lime juice into the rice. Stir to combine.

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp mixture to pan and cook 3-4 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through. Layer some rice, beans, and shrimp onto a tortilla. Squeeze some more lime juice over the mixture. Enjoy!


Of course it would be a waste of limes not to make a Cuba Libre to go with dinner:

Shot of your favorite rum
Juice of half a lime
Coke

Add the rum and lime to a glass. Top with Coke. Stir. Add ice to taste. Fiddle with proportions to your liking. I tend to like less alcohol in my drinks, so you may wish to add two shots for a stiffer Cuba Libre.

Happy Fat Tuesday! (If you live in one of the 24 Super Tuesday states I hope you remembered to vote!)