Quick And Easy: Shrimp Soft Tacos

Over the weekend, I attended Artisanal LA, a gathering of local food artisans showcase their handmade items. I sampled a LOT of yummy food, met some incredible people and took many photos, so I'll be posting more about the event later. In the meantime, I got a chance to use one of the things I purchased while I was there and I wanted to share it with you.

Chef Zarate (of Mo Chica fame) was selling one item- a Peruvian salsa called anticucho. The minute my parents and I tasted a bit of the fiery marinade we all decided to bring a bottle home. At the moment I wasn't sure what dish I'd use it for, but when I got a sudden craving for shrimp tacos the next day, I thought of the anticucho and got cooking.

Since I used a bottled marinade, I don't really have a recipe for you, but if you don't use something pre-made you could always dust your shrimp with a mix of chili pepper, a touch of cayenne, cumin, ground coriander and garlic, then sear them off. I tossed my raw shrimp with the anticucho, salt and pepper and let them sit for about 30 minutes before cooking them quickly in a hot pan.


After making a quick cabbage and red onion slaw by tossing the veggies with some cumin, rice wine vinegar, ground coriander, salt and pepper I put nice, heaping piles of it on warmed flour tortillas and topped that with the shrimp. I finished each taco off with a creamy dressing made from smashed avocados, greek yogurt and a touch of Kewpie mayonnaise.

The anticucho added a great kick to the tacos, and I'm looking forward to trying it on flank steak, chicken and fish. Now I wish I would have bought 10 bottles!