This is a takeoff on something that I first encountered at Restaurante Diligencias in Tampico. I fell in love with their spicy version of a salsa verde, served on the side with fried shrimp or baked fillet of fish. You will see the family resemblance of this sauce with others like Pico de Gallo Norteño and Salsa cruda de tomatillo — fresh uncooked sauces with a jolt of chile, meant to be used as table sauces from which diners help themselves according to their tolerance for chiles.
I became crazy about the sauce, which I adapted in a cooked version. I enriched the flavor by my favorite re-sautéing technique and used the sauce to poach or sauté seafood, making it an integral part of the dish instead of a condiment. But the spiciness of the sauce limited the number of ways I could use it, until I found that garnishing the dish with grated coconut and fresh lime did wonders in mellowing the strong picante flavor.
Coconut Shrimp (Camarones con coco)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 1 cup
Tampico Green Sauce (Salsa verde de Tampico) - 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
- ½ cup freshly grated coconut
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- In heavy skillet or sauté pan, heat butter over high heat until foam subsides and butter is almost ready to brown. (If using olive oil, heat until very hot but not quite smoking.) Quickly add salsa verde and cook, stirring, until heated through, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add shrimp and stir well to combine. Simmer until shrimp are opaque and cooked through, about 3 minutes longer. Do not overcook. Arrange shrimp and sauce on serving platter. Sprinkle with grated coconut and garnish with lime wedges.
