Savory Shrimp with Papaya Salsa and Jasmine Rice

These are some things I like to cook:

1) pasta
2) risotto
3) lots of vegetables
4) sometimes meat
5) not enough seafood
6) more pasta

I cook mostly Italian food. Sometimes you will see some Latino flavor in my recipe repertoire. I live practically in Cuba, and am not complaining. I get the best café con leche around the corner. That’s when my Español comes in handy.

And sometimes I will just invent something like this dish. It is sort of Italasiantino (Italian, Asian, Latino). The savory shrimp are perfectly matched with the sweet and spicy salsa. The jasmine rice is fluffy perfection. I could eat this for breakfast.

Eww. Kidding.

Savory Shrimp with Papaya Salsa and Jasmine Rice

Ingredients

jasmine rice
2 cups

salsa
1 large papaya diced
4 plum tomatoes diced
1/4 cup cilantro diced
4 scallions chopped
juice of 2 limes
1 jalapeno chopped fine (you can omit if you don’t like spicy)
1 teaspoon salt (more if you like salty sweet)

shrimp
1 lb large shrimp (I used frozen/deveined kind and I peeled them)
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)

Directions
For the rice: bring 3 cups of water to a boil. When water is boiling, add the rice. Let come to another boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. When your timer goes off, voila’, open lid to super fluffy rice.

If you used frozen shrimp like I did, let it defrost in bowl of water while you are prepping the salsa.

Salsa: Chop all of the salsa ingredients and then mix them in a large bowl. Add more lime juice if needed and a tablespoon or two of olive oil. The olive oil make it just a little better.

Shrimp: Your shrimp are defrosted or you are using fresh shrimp, now is their time to shine! Heat up the butter in a medium sized skillet on medium-high heat.  Sautee’ the garlic in the butter and olive oil. Add the white wine. Let it start to reduce, then add the shrimp. Sautee’ the shrimp. When they turn pink, they are done. It will only take a few minutes. Take the shrimp out of pan with a slotted spoon and place them in bowl. Turn the heat on high and let the white wine reduce more with the butter. It should only take a few minutes. Then spoon the sauce onto the shrimp.

Plate up the shrimp on top of the papaya salsa like I did.  It looks so fancy! Serve with the rice on the side. Sprinkle a little more chopped cilantro on the rice. You are in business!

This is the most photogenic papaya I’ve ever seen.