Especially this time of year, there is nothing better than a spicy, tomato-based seafood dish with some veggies for a light dinner. This sauce is great and can be used with whatever veggies you have on hand, so make this tonight!
Spicy Cajun Shrimp with Veggies
On the night we made this, I served this tomato-based stew with rice, but you could certainly serve this alone in bowls with bread for dipping, or over some pasta or mashed potatoes. That's your call!
I started the rice first. I find that cooking rice in 1/2 water, 1/2 chicken stock (or a bouillon cube) and adding some scallions right at the end makes great special rice that is a little bit different without overpowering the flavors of the dish.
Slice up two or three scallions for 4 portions of rice...
And fluff them gently into cooked rice right before serving!
For the sauce, you'll need to gather some ingredients:
- 1/2 bulb fennel
- 1 zucchini
- olive oil
- butter
- salt & pepper
- canned tomatoes (1/2 to 1 cup your choice whole, crushed, or diced)
- beer
- garlic
- hot sauce
- tomato paste
- Creole seasoning
- Raw, peeled, deveined shrimp (5-8 per person, depending on how large they are)
Now cut up the zucchini. Cut it in half, then cut each half in half lengthwise like at the top of this picture. Then cut each of the quarters lengthwise in planks, then cut the planks in half. Or, cut the zucchini however you'd like to, it makes no difference to me whatsoever.Now that you've got your veggies ready to go, heat up some oil in the bottom of a large frying pan (turn the stove to between medium and medium-high) and add the veggies to the hot oil.
Now that the garlic is minced and the veggies have started to soften a little, for about 4 minutes, let's add in our seasonings: the garlic, hot sauce, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, and 1/2 teaspoon Cajun/Creole seasoning.
Stir in the seasonings for one to two minutes, until the tomato paste is coating everything and you can smell the garlic. At this point, the veggies should be about half cooked - we aren't done yet!
Child molester? Axe Murderer? I can never tell.
Stir the beer around for about 2 minutes until 1/3 to 1/2 of it is cooked out. Then dump in your shrimp, and grab your tomatoes. I had some leftover, so for this dish that served 4 I used 2 whole tomatoes and juices from 1/3 of a large can.
Now, just like we did when we made Spicy Leek Tomato Sauce, use your fingers to crush the tomatoes into small pieces right on top of the shrimp and add the juices, then stir everything together.
Keep the heat on medium - the sauce should be simmering but not boiling. Adjust stove temperature as needed to achieve this.
Now, because we've made something really healthy, we should probably add some calories to this - let's be real.
Stir in two pats of butter to thicken the sauce just slightly, taste, and add more Crejun(now I'm just being dumb) seasoning, hot sauce, or salt as needed.
The shrimp should be fully cooked in 3-5 minutes - you'll know it's done when it turns from gray to pink. Don't overcook the shrimp!
I would also suggest that this is a great time to take a stupid picture of you and your significant other and post it on the internet because you think he's really cute.
I really liked this recipe. My mom is from New Orleans and we ate alot of cajun foods growing up. I'm going to try this recipe this weekend. Keep blogging these great cujan recipes and I'll keeping trying them
Thanks! We have another one (it has gumbo!!) coming this week - stay tuned!