Tequila Shrimp with Orzo

Ingredients:

Around the time that spring starts teasing us with tepid days mixed in with blizzards, I start craving seafood and other springy dishes. I still like a fat, filling meal in the winter, though, so this is what I came up. Trust me, it came out wonderful.

Here's what you'll need:
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tequila
3/4 sour cream
2 shallots, thickly sliced
1 lb orzo
2 limes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 goya seasoning packet
fresh cilantro
chicken broth

Before you let the cost of winter seafood scare you, I got my shrimp at the seafood counter of Kroger, for just under $8 for a meal serving 4 with leftovers.

First, get your ingredients together. This is a really fast-paced meal near the end, so I recommend having everything measured and handy. Also, take the shells and legs and tails off the shrimp, and cut the turd out of the back.

Step 1:

Heat up your chicken broth (enough to cover your orzo with some to spare). I used the whole box shown above for a double-order or orzo, so you'll need less. Once it's boiling, add your goya packet, your tomato paste and some salt and pepper. If you have saffron it would be a good addition, but I didn't have any and wasn't paying for just this meal.

Cook the orzo like you would pasta. It will absorb most of the liquid. If it dried out a bit, a little olive oil and tomato paste will take care of it.

Step 2:

After about 5 minutes of cooking your orzo, sprinkle your shrimp liberally with kosher or sea salt and pepper. Squeeze a lime over (both halves), stir well and let sit for 10 minutes.

Step 3:

Slice your shallots. Shallots are wonderful when sliced thinly, but you need some texture so I sort of roughly chopped them. It did the meal well.

Step 4:

Heat up your butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

After it's good and foamy, toss your shrimp in. Cook the shrimp for 2.5 minutes, flipping and making sure that it's getting heated on all sides. The best part about shrimp is that it's so obvious where it's gotten heat and where it hasn't.

Step 5:

Now, don't go over the 2.5 minute mark, because shrimp turns into car tires when overcooked. So, after 2.5 minutes throw in your shallots and cook for 1 more minute. If you like bite, a chopped jalapeño could be added here, but I didn't.

Step 6:

Remove from heat, and add your tequila.

Now, carefully light the surface of your shrimp. They will flare up, and put themselves out in about a minute's time. I couldn't take pictures of this, but just light it and shake the skillet around (careful not to throw flaming liquid) while the flames are going.

Step 7:

Mix in your sour cream and cilantro. Serve immediately, and you will melt.

I put the orzo on the side, with a fat pile of creamy shrimp next to it. The sauce from the shrimp goes very, very well with the orzo the way I made it. Also, I squeezed the other lime over the shrimp before serving.