I came up with this dish when my wife wanted to do something Mexican themed for Cinco De Mayo. My only caveat was I didn't want rice, beans, tortillas, or anything fried. So I did some research and found Calabacitas, which is a Mexican side dish consisting of mostly squash, corn and peppers. I served it with some grilled shrimp and it ended up being a delicious health meal.
Ingredients
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails on (16 - 20 counts if you can find them)
1 med Onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 Zucchini, cut into 1/2" thick ¼ moons
1 Red bell pepper, chopped
1 ear of corn, peeled
1 jalapeno diced, most of the seed removed
1 lime
Cilantro
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375. Rub the corn with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the corn on a baking rack, then on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake 15 min, then turn the corn. Bake 10 min more. Remove corn and let cool. Once cooled, cut off the bottom of the corn for a flat surface, then cut the kernels off the cob (P&F Tip: lay a towel out and place the corn in the middle. Cut the corn off the cob and the kernels will fall into the towel. Once done, pick up the towel from the 4 corners and dump your corn wherever needed.)
Get a sauté pan on med high heat and add some EVOO. Once oil shimmers, add onion season with salt and cook 5 min, stirring occasionally. Add pepper, zucchini, jalapeno and half the garlic. Cook 5 min more, then add the corn and the juice of 1/2 a lime. Cook until corn is warmed through, approx. 2 min. Remove from heat and taste the dish, add more salt if needed. Add 1/2 cup of fresh chopped cilantro and the zest of half a lime.
Meanwhile, get your shrimp in a bowl and add 2 tbsp of EVOO, the other half the garlic, zest of 1/2 a lime and the juice of 1/2 a lime. Let sit for 10 min. (P&F Tip: Be careful when marinating seafood in citrus juice, it will actually start to cook the seafood (hence ceviche). With this ration of oil to juice and it only being 10 min you should be OK.)
When you're ready to cook the shrimp, get another sauté pan on high heat. Add oil, then season the shrimp with salt. Do not add salt until right before you cook as it will pull out the moisture from your shrimp (or any seafood). Once pan is hot, add shrimp starting at 12:00 in the pan in a clockwise direction, then into the middle if needed. Do not overcrowd, do 2 batches if needed. After 2 - 3 min flip the shrimp starting at 12:00. The reason for this is shrimp cooks REALLY fast. If you add it all in at once, when you go to flip them some may be under and some will probably be over cook. Remove the shrimp after another 2 - 3 min.
Serve with the Calabacitas and top with fresh cilantro.
