Shrimp and Shishito Peppers

Low in everything except flavor, shrimp and shishito peppers come together in a flash for a quick weekday meal or an impressive, yet effortless, weekend dinner with friends. Really, the only “labor” involved is peeling and deveining the fresh shrimp – notice I said “fresh” shrimp – this is because you’re going to buy the freshest shrimp you can find from the best seafood purveyor near you. None of that cheap stuff available in many markets that are treated with sulfites and phosphates to promote shelf life. Price can usually serve as an indicator and you can definitely tell when shrimp and scallops have been overtreated with phosphates when they foam during cooking and still retain a gelatinous, undercooked texture after cooking.* In a word, yucky.

In my area, I buy seafood from Santa Monica Seafood Market or Whole Foods because they sell only wild-caught or responsibly farmed sustainable seafood and adhere to the highest quality standards. Both retailers are committed to seafood sustainability and work with the Marine Stewardship Council. To me, it’s worth paying a little more for high quality and responsible practices.

Not familiar with shishito peppers? Shishitos make an appearance most often in Japanese restaurants as an appetizer and they pack a surprise – not because they’re hot, hot, hot but because they are most often fairly mild but every now and then you’ll get one that is hot. There’s no way of telling until you bite into them because they don’t look any different and may even have come from the same plant. It’s chile roulette!

Since I’m an official chile head this doesn’t bother me at all – I like living dangerously. My husband…not so much. We keep the beer close by – actually milk is better to put out the flames, but to me, milk and chiles just don’t seem to go together unless you’re desperate.

The shishito chile pepper is typically about 2-4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide, slender, curvy and wrinkly with rounded ends. The shishito is harvested before it ripens to red and should be consumed while still green, so choose chiles that are bright green with no red tinges. They’re often confused with Padron peppers which are shorter, but also bright green and wrinkly, and can be used as a substitute.

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Shrimp and Shishito Peppers

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

Fresh shrimp and shishito peppers come together for an effortless dinner that is gluten-free and low in fat and calories, yet big on flavor!

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 limes juiced (about 1/3 cup juice)
• 2 lemons juiced (about 1/3 cup juice)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 pound raw shrimp peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
• 20 shishito peppers

Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon coconut aminos
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 t. sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine juices and garlic. Add shrimp; toss together. Let sit 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat; add chiles. Cook until charred on all sides, turning as needed, about 7-10 minutes. Add shrimp and marinade; cook until opaque and slightly pink and just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in sauce; cook 1 minute. Serve over hot cooked rice or rice noodles, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Coconut Aminos can be purchased at markets with a good natural or health food section.

Nutritional Analysis by My Fitness Pal: Calories per serving 185, Fat 9 g, Carbs 12 g, Fiber 2 g, Sugars 4 g, Protein 16 g, Cholesterol 165 mg, Sodium 656 mg

The chile lover in me has also been having a lot of fun experimenting with the array of easy chile recipes in The Great Pepper Cookbook from Melissa’s Produce and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves peppers and desires to know more about chile varieties. I adapted one of their recipes (Lemon-Lime Shrimp with Shishito Peppers) to eliminate soy sauce for a low sodium diet (paleo friendly too) and made a few other minor tweaks.  I say, perk up your recipe repertoire with peppers!

*The proper use of phosphates on seafood is a marvel of food technology.  Phosphates allow the tissue (shrimp/fish/etc meat) to retain moisture after harvest and even during cooking.  Retaining this moisture ensures the flavor and texture of the seafood is as close to ‘fresh caught’ as possible even after extended storage and freezing of the product.  Shrimp still give a juicy pop after cooking!

So if phosphates can help retain quality in seafood, are more phosphates better?  The answer is a resounding, No.  More is not better; however, the practice over-soaking of products is routinely seen.  When phosphates are applied at levels that surpass proper usage levels, the appearance, performance while cooking, and eating experience are all adversely affected.  For example, shrimp that have been overtreated with phosphates will have a plump, jelly-like appearance while raw, may foam while cooking, and still appear undercooked (gelatinous) after cooking.  Once a product is over-soaked, it cannot be salvaged. {Source: ABC Research Laboratories}

Have a great week!

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