Test Kitchen: Cilantro-Lime Shrimp with Romesco Sauce

Cilantro-lime pepper lends a zesty heat. Make it count by blackening well-seasoned shrimp in your trusty cast-iron and serving over seared manchego polenta cakes, crisp on the outside and creamy within. A romesco sauce drizzled over the shrimp completes the trick. You’ll be scraping up every last forkful.

Ingredients

For the romesco sauce:

• 2 roma tomatoes
• 2 tbsp. plain breadcrumbs
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• ¼ cup toasted almonds
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp. Red Stick Spice Fig Balsamic Vinegar

For the polenta cakes:

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup polenta
• 1 tsp. salt
• pinch of black pepper
• ½ cup manchego cheese, freshly grated
• 2 tablespoons butter

For the blackened shrimp:

• 32 raw shrimp, peeled with tails intact
• 3 tbsp. Red Stick Spice Cilantro-Lime Pepper
• 3 tbsp. butter
• Optional: Fresh cilantro and lime wedges (for garnish)

Method

For the romesco sauce (can be made one week ahead):

1. Preheat broiler. Place tomatoes on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil for two minutes on each side. Set aside and let cool. Then peel and core.
2. Combine tomatoes with remaining ingredients in a food processor. Puree. Chill sauce in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes before using.

For the seared polenta cakes:

One day ahead: Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a 8-inch square baking pan, combine water, polenta, salt, and pepper. Bake for one hour. Stir in grated manchego. Bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and chill in the refrigerator, covered, overnight.

Day of: Cut polenta into four squares; halve each square into two triangles. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear triangles for 8 minutes on each side.

For the blackened shrimp: Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Lower heat to medium and add shrimp. Cook shrimp for 6 to 7 minutes on each side. 

To plate: On each plate, top two polenta cakes with eight blackened shrimp. Drizzle with romesco sauce. Garnish with cilantro and lime.

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