EnLaCocina Arroz Criollo con Camarones
By : Tita de Cocina
Who doesn ’ t like a good plato de Arroz Criollo con Camarones ? Check it out , you don ’ t have to run out to one of the fabulous kitchens at your local latin restaurants for this flavor , it ’ s not hard to make at all ! Follow this recipe for a suculent shrimp in creole rice pallet journey :
This receta serves 4 to 6 people .
You will use
• 3 ½ to 4 cups of rice ;
• 1 ½ pounds of shelled shrimp ,
• sofrito ,
• alcaparados ,
• olive oil ,
• tomato sauce ,
• your seasonings ( salt , pepper , sazon with coloring , adobo )
• ( optional : a lime and some Blue Star Crab Meat - - comes in a vacuum pack in your seafood section ) and
Sofrito : you can use the already bought , or make some fresh sofrito yourself
To make sofrito , use plenty of cilantro and garlic . Also use green peppers , spanish yellow onion , ajices dulces , red pepper and fresh rosemary ... yes rosemary ! First , remove the shells from the shrimp and put the shells in a pot . Boil the shells in 1 quart of water . You will save this caldito to use as the water to boil the rice and shrimp in ( keep all the flavor !!) Next , in your olla de arroz , put a generous amount of sofrito ( approx 3 tablespoons ) to boil ( or “ so-freir ”) in 4 tablespoons of olive oil ; Now put in your rice , put in your shrimp , put in your shrimp stock ( the water from the shells ), an additional two tablespoons of olive oil and your seasonings to taste . If you have opted to get the Crab Meat and the lime , cut the lime in two and squeeze one half of the lime and put in about half of the crab meat in with these ingredients .
Mix everything together and put to simmer as you would any rice dish . Add an additional cup or two of water if it seems your rice could use a little more so that the rice cooks fully through . You may garnish the top layer of the rice with additional cilantro in abundance and some red pimiento for added flavor . Remove the garnishments before serving .
In twenty minutes , you should have a SHRIMPLY DELICIOUS arroz criollo con camarones .
A good pot of habichuelas guisadas and some tostones goes great with this dish . Con Provecho ! Me envitas !!
LT5-6-06 . indd 22 5 / 12 / 06 10:16:02 AM