Green Chili Bacon Chipotle Sauced Shrimp

On a recent trip to Breckenridge, we four friends picked a chipotle shrimp appetizer.  It was fabulous.

They were delicious.  Plump, spicy, creamy...they ticked the boxes.

At the grocery store yesterday, I noticed some nice large in-shell shrimp in the case.  I thought, "Oh, hellz yes!"  As I was standing there, I heard someone - not too far away - in front of the butcher case ask for a pound of hatch green chili bacon. Whaaaaaaat?  I actually felt the light bulb go off.

I bought the shrimp, the bacon, a can of chipoltes, a tub of sour cream and some avocados.  Here's what I did with them:

Green Chili Bacon Chipotle Sauced Shrimp

1 lb large cleaned and shelled shrimp (I took the tails off because I'd rather eat than work)
5 strips hatch green chili bacon, diced and fried crisp (if you can't find the bacon, you could always just add some green chili into the skillet with regular bacon)
1 can chipotles with sauce
1 tbs lime juice
2 cups sour cream
salt and pepper

In a bowl, salt and pepper the shrimp (I also added a dash of onion powder and a few shakes of garlic salt, but that's just me.)

Dice and fry the bacon.

Drain on a paper towel and pour off all but about a tablespoon of the grease. Put the bacon in a bowl.  Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook until they've curled up their little tails, and they're nice and pink.  Drain the cooked shrimp on a paper towel and add them to the bacon, toss.

Pour the chipotles into a blender along with the sauce, the sour cream, the lime juice and some salt and blend until smooth.  I didn't quite have enough sour cream so I used some mayo and some ranch dressing...worked just as well.

Pour the mixture into a squeeze bottle.  Now here's the thing...if you want to, you can toss the bacon and the shrimp with the sauce, or you can drizzle it lightly on the shrimp and add more as you like from the squeeze bottle.

I topped the shrimp with some slices avocados and a handful of cotija cheese.

This checked ALL the boxes!

Best/Easiest Grilling Marinade...EVER

So simple.  So versatile.  Oh, so very good!  This easy marinade works on pork, beef, chicken, even fish.  Thirty minutes in a jumbo plastic baggie, and BAM, you're ready to cook!

One count (about an ounce) for every 3-4 ounces of meat/fish.  Four chicken breasts?  About a four count pour.  Two 10oz sirloins?   About a five or six count pour.

Place meat in the big baggie and add each of the following using the appropriate count:

vegetable oil
soy sauce
cooking sherry

Then for every piece of meat, shake in a couple of good shakes of garlic salt.

Seal bag and mix all together.  Pound - just a bit - on the meat to help work in the marinade and break down tendons/ligaments, etc.  Let sit at room temp for about 30 minutes, then grill.  That's it.  So simple.

Salmon Quinoa Salad

Recently while we were in Portland, Oregon, we had dinner at a lovely restaurant called Q. Their beer list was interesting; their menu was fabulous. Husband Joe and I shared a small plate of bacon-wrapped dates and a butter leaf lettuce salad. Frankly, I don’t remember what he had, but I had a spice-rubbed salmon over a quinoa salad that was to die for. The salad was so bright and tasty, I couldn’t wait to get my fork back in there for another bite.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of quinoa. And whenever I try to make it, it just doesn’t come out quite right. I failed again when I tried recreating this salad at home. But I got the rest of the salad right. Next time I make it, I think I’ll make it with pearl couscous. Fuck Quinoa!

So, while it’s kind of vague and fluid, here’s my recipe:

Cooked salmon from the deli section at the grocery store (you absolutely could grill it yourself). I think Honey Smoked Salmon would work just as well. It all depends on just how lazy you are.
2-3 cups cooked quinoa (if you can make it), or couscous, or whatever starch you want to use.
Dozen or so grape tomatoes, halved
½ cup sliced black olives
¾ cup chopped cucumber
½ chopped pecans or peanuts
¾ cup of sweet corn (I microwaved one cob and sliced the corn off of it). You could also use frozen corn or even roasted corn.
¼ cup thinly sliced yellow and orange bell peppers (I use the minis)
Just a few thin slices of fresh jalapenos and/or fresno peppers
2 teaspoons of lime juice
Enough of some kind of creamy vinaigrette to lightly coat ingredients
Dash of garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Take the skin off of the salmon and shred into large salad bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss to coat. Ta-da! Salad can be served warm or cold.

Let me know if you come up with easy quinoa or any other ingredients that could go in this salad!