Chipotle Shrimp Tacos

Sunday night is typically family dinner night with my sister Ginger, brother-in-law and their two kids. I go to their house on Sunday afternoon and we play, do chores and have dinner. I have a tendency to want to make a fairly elaborate meal, taking advantage of my sister's large kitchen (easily 3-4 times the size of mine), thus also creting a fairly elaborate mess.

On a recent Sunday, Ginger wanted to keep it simple so we decided on shrimp tacos. Easy, delicious and I would only dirty up one frying pan and a cutting board. A win-win for everyone.

If you haven't tried the shrimp from San Miguel Seafood at the Downtown Austin Farmers Market, you are really missing out. They bring it up from the gulf each week and it is delicious. They usually have a boat mix available that has never been frozen and they are incredible.

I also highly recommend using cabbage, not lettuce, for shrimp tacos. The crunch of the cabbage gives your taco a little something-something that lettuce just can't provide.

We like our food fiery, so if you have a more timid palate, you might want to cut back on some of the spices.

Chipotle Shrimp Tacos
2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder
1 teaspoon olive oil
white corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cabbage, I used red but green will do fine
2 ripe avocados, peeled and sliced
1 bunch of cilantro, cleaned and chopped
3-4 limes, 1 cut in half and the others quartered
salsa verde

Squeeze the juice of one lime on the shrimp.

Mix the chili powder, salt, cumin and chipotle chile powder in a bowl. Combine with the shrimp and coat the shrimp well. Let the shrimp sit for 10-15 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Saute the shrimp over medium-high heat until cooked through. Depending on the size of the shrimp, this could be 5-10 minutes. Don't overcook the shrimp; you still want it to be firm when you pull it off the heat.

Warm the tortillas. Serve the tacos with cabbage, cilantro. limes, avocados and salsa as garnish.

I like to serve this with black beans and rice as a side dish.