April 6, 2008

Shrimp Quesadillas

Lately, I’ve been venturing out into seafood waters. (Ha.) I’m not a huge seafood fan, but I do like a few things. Shrimp is one of them. Today as I was peeling and ripping little legs off of the shrimp that I thought was already peeled, I decided that I really don’t like to mess with food that still has recognizable body parts. Give me some ground beef or a chicken breast, and I can’t picture it walking around a farm somewhere. Or in today’s case, swimming around the ocean. Ugh.

Luckily these quesadillas turned out fabulous. I wouldn’t have expected any less from Paula Deen. We scarfed them right up!

Shrimp Quesadillas
From the Cooking with Paula Deen magazine, Jan/Feb 08

3 qts water
1 T Old Bay seasoning
2 tsp chili powder
1 lb medium fresh shrimp
1 10-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained (Rotel tomatoes)
1 c shredded sharp cheddar chese
1 c shredded pepper jack cheese
4 10-inch flour tortillas
A little bit of butter or nonstick cooking spray

Bring water, Old Bay and chili powder to boil. Add shrimp. Cook for 3 minutes or until pink and firm. Drain and rinse with cold water. Peel shrimp. Or buy shrimp that’s already peeled!

Place shrimp in food processor and pulse 2-3 times to chop coarsely. Spoon into a large bowl; add tomatoes and cheeses, stirring to combine. Spoon shrimp mixture evenly over half of each tortilla; fold each in half.

Melt butter in skillet. Cook quesadillas 4-5 minutes per side. Serve with sour cream and lemon wedges.

Makes 4 servings. (Oops, did I just admit that we ate all of them? Oh dear. They would be great as appetizers, too, by the way. That ought to prevent scarfing them.)

Nat’s Notes:
1. You can find Old Bay seasoning in the seafood department if they don’t have it in the spice section.
2. I actually made 6 quesadillas instead of 4. I didn’t want them to be too thick.
3. Make sure you drain the tomatoes well. These things get soggy really easily.
4. Please, please please squirt lemon juice on them when you eat them. It made more of a difference than I thought it would. Steve actually put lemon parts inside of his quesadilla.

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