Grilled Prawns with Recado & Tomatillo Salsa
My demo at the Grand Tasting at Pier 94 was a blast. I made Mexican-style grilled prawns in honor of our NYCWFF Destination of the Year, Mexico, a country whose food is second to none in terms of regionality, depth and quality.
Grilled Prawns with Recado & Tomatillo Salsa
Ingredients
- 3 pounds U15 shrimp, wild-caught Mexican or Ecuadorean, peeled and deveined
The Recado
- 2 tablespoons corn oil
- 4 dry chipotle chiles, seeded and deveined
- 1 cup boiling water
- 12 ounces tamarind paste turned to soft pulp
- 1 onion, sliced and caramelized/charred
- 10 garlic cloves roasted
- 4 Roma tomatoes, charred/roasted
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
The Salsa
- 1 small onion minced super fine
- 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 12 tomatillos
- 1 jalapeno roasted and cleaned
- 2 roasted poblano chiles, cleaned and chopped
- 1 handful cilantro leaves
- 1 garlic clove
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 5 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
Instructions
Make the Recado
Heat the oil and fry the chipotle chiles for 10 seconds. Reconstitute in one cup of boiling water for 20 minutes. Discard 1/2 the water. Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Place in a zip-top bag with the shrimp and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Make the Salsa
Place the onions and salt in a large non-reactive bowl. Puree all the other ingredients in a blender. Combine the two mixtures. Season with salt and pepper and use within 4 hours.
Grill the shrimp over direct heat to taste. Serve with the salsa.
NOTES The recado will keep for 5 days in a refrigerator.
