Puerto Vallarta foodie Andrea Jupina is back with more recipes from her ‘Accidentally Delicious’ kitchen. This time, she’s sharing an easy four-ingredient recipe for AJ’s Salt & Pepper Shrimp. Andrea recommends serving the shrimp with a fresh Caesar salad, so she’s also included her recipe for homemade Caesar dressing.
AJ’s Salt & Pepper Shrimp
4 ingredients – shrimp, olive oil, salt & pepper. NO GARLIC. Incredible.
This was so delicious and easy – fresh shrimp – grilled in a generous amount of hot, slutty olive oil (non-virgin). Place the shrimp in a pan with hot oil and sprinkle with a good salt – such as Himalayan or Fleur de Sel (Guerande or Camargue) if possible, or grey salt, red salt or a good sea salt; the quality of the salt really does make a difference; plus add a generous amount of freshly ground pepper.
When the shrimp start getting pink, after 1-2 minutes, turn them over and cook til the shrimp are pink. Be careful to avoid overcooking or the shrimp will get rubbery and tough… and remember, after removing from the pan, they will continue cooking in the residual heat. You’ll have a wonderful salted, peppery olive oil left in the pan and you can add that to your veggies or a salad dressing, one made from scratch, of course.
A Caesar salad with shrimp is wonderful. I added the olive oil that I cooked with to my homemade Caesar dressing…… and because the oil was still pretty warm, I think it cooked the egg yolk in my dressing, thickening it!
My Caesar dressing ingredients: a good dollop of French Dijon mustard, 1 egg yolk, olive oil that has been resting 1 hour or overnight with 1 or 2 whole cloves of garlic which have been pressed with the flat blade of a large knife, fresh squeezed lemon juice, ½ can of anchovies or more, mashed with a fork; (if you don’t want to be overpowered with garlic, take the garlic from the oil and finely mince it – it will be slippery!) And grated cheese such as Grana Padano or Parmesan, and yes, the quality of the cheese makes a big difference, and freshly ground black pepper. I omitted a dash of Worcestershire sauce because I was out of it, although this traditionally is in a Caesar dressing. I didn’t miss it, truth be told.
A combo of good red wine vinegar and lemon juice is also good. Or just lemon juice.
PS. The secret to a good Caesar salad is too much cheese and too much anchovy.
These recipes make it easy to enjoy big flavors without the fuss. From AJ’s salty, peppery shrimp to a creamy homemade Caesar, Andrea shows that delicious meals can be simple, fresh, and totally crave-worthy.
Andrea Jupina lives in Puerto Vallarta full time. Over the past few years, she has taken a break from writing her “Accidentally Delicious” column, but now she is back at it and, though we are all a little bit fatter, we couldn’t be happier! Join us in welcoming Andrea back by sending your questions or comments to andreajupina(at)gmail.com.