As mentioned in my previous post, I fell in love with this dish while at Fonda San Miguel in Austin. It is a simple, but very delicious dish, full of smokey, spicy flavor. Though it is made with heavy cream, it is actually, surprisingly, very light. This is a very impressive dish that will ‘wow ‘your spouse or dinner guests and it can easily be made in about 15 minutes with little ingredients needed.

After savoring each and every bite while at Fonda San Miguel, I feel like I had a fairly good idea on how to recreate the dish, I am sure there are some variations that could be taken but I feel like I got the general concept. If I remember correctly, there wasn’t bell pepper in the original, but I thought the color and slight crunch would be a nice addition. Additionally, I suppose if you are worried about fat or calories, you could go with half and half or just use half milk and half heavy cream or something like sour cream, etc. I personally feel that as long as you aren’t consuming heavy cream multiple times throughout the week, one meal with a bit of it, isn’t bad for you and certainly won’t tip the scale. Everything in moderation. The original was also made with chives instead of scallions, but I had scallions on-hand from a stir-fry I made last week and I sometimes prefer that bigger burst of flavor.

I love the smokey heat from chipotles and a little really goes a long way. In this dish I don’t even add a whole chipotle pepper. I open the can and use approximately 1 tablespoon of just the adobo sauce, you’d be surprised how much kick just the sauce has, plus it always has bits of the pepper and little chunks of onion. If you like a bit less heat, start with 1/2 a tablespoon (or even less) and add from there. The creaminess is a really nice compliment to the heat from the chipotles.

This dish is a really great week-night dinner that feels so luxurious and special. If you have surprise or short-notice dinner guests, this dish will knock-their socks off both in flavor and in heat and they’ll think you slaved and planned over it for much longer than 15 minutes.

Camarones en Crema De Chipotle (Shrimp in Chipotle Cream Sauce)
serves 2
Inspired by Fonda San Miguel

1/2 lb (approximately 16-20) large peeled and deveined raw gulf shrimp (if you are unable to get gulf shrimp, go with whatever your preference, we had tiger shrimp)
1 tablespoon olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 organic bell pepper (red, orange or yellow), diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup organic heavy cream
1 tablespoon adobe sauce from canned chipotles (you can use more of less depending on how spicy you want it, I don’t even bother using any of the peppers, as the sauce gives a really nice smokey heat on its own)
1 small handful fresh cilantro, chopped roughly
2 scallions, thinly sliced
fresh lime juice

If your shrimp are/were frozen, be sure they are thoroughly thawed, pat shrimp dry with a paper towel. Place the shrimp on a single layer on a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat, add the garlic and bell pepper, stirring often until the peppers are soft and begin to brown a bit. Add the shrimp and watch it carefully, it will cook quickly. Cook 1 minute on the first side, flip over and cook another minute or so on the other side, until nearly fully cooked. Add the heavy cream and adobo sauce, whisk quickly to fully combine. Lower the heat to a low-medium , stirring the sauce often, it will begin to thicken. Cook only about 2-3 minutes until thick and warmed through. Be mindful not to cook much longer, you don’t want to overcook the shrimp or they will be rubbery. Turn off the heat and add in half of the cilantro and sliced scallions, stir to combine.

Serve over white rice and top with the remaining cilantro and scallions, give a squeeze of fresh lime juice over top, if you wish.