i stopped by my fish supplier today.. they opened a retail spot in a building they own.. very bare bones, a garage essentially, lots of cement.. lots of fish.. i purchased two pounds of shell on NC Shrimp and a 1 lb filet of grouper.. he was so excited about the grouper, i had no choice.. plus, i had purchased a mango at mexico 2g so, i felt the world was finally telling me to pair the two.. while i have had it, it's so cliche, or I guess, classic, i never wanted to f with it. but, a ceviche sounds fun.. plus i have chorizo, so maybe fish and chorizo tacos, or a chorizo bread crumb topping for the grouper.. so, i let myself be sold. I have a lb of grouper.. which i already portioned off for things.
I left my house at 730 this morning and returned for the first time at 10... My only break had me running 4 miles before going back to work. cooked dinner and well, went back to work.. but, it was a fun hour dinner from turning on the stove to heading back.
I cut up 6 cloves of garlic, cooked in a quarter stick of butter and a little oil.. just to up to the burn point. kept the flame low regardless.. then added tomato paste, some cherry tomatoes, some vermouth, some smoked paprika and thyme, then was like, maybe this would be good with the chorizo. Add some broken up pieces of the chorizo, then squeezed an 8th of a lemon, added salt, pepper... sauce was coming together nicely.. tasting as i go... purposely avoiding adding the jalapeno i had on the ready, or anything spicy. We were going deep, i had a muscadet in the fridge.
I added the shrimp and tossed about.. the shrimp, it was like 14 to a pound.. i deshelled, kept the shells in a bag and into the freezer with the rest of them.. i had kept the tails on and deturded them.. a few minutes cooking and it was time to plate.
disclaimer: No vegetables were harmed in the making of this meal
edit to add: the first of the 15 shrimp I prepped., i mindlessly removed the tail and that's the shrimp front and center.. anyway, i like that you can scoop the sauce up in the shell and have a little shot.
I had a one pound dry aged steak.. i felt it was nice to throw a bit out.. so, i cut off perhaps a quarter.. salted and cooked on the plancha.. my main focus was on the shrimp so, the steak while cooked to temp, didnt have the best char as it was too thin.. i just did a quick salt pepper minute steak and topped with butter... it was a few bites and totally delicious. but, yeh, jack of all trades. The shrimp did not suffer..
fancy salt came next
