The other week, my sister friend, blogger buddy, twitter pal, TiffanyinHouston posted a pic of a culinary delight that her Chef Husband prepared and it looked delicious! She was nice enough to share the link and I had almost all of the ingredients at home and gave it a whirl in my kitchen!
Voila:
Ingredients
¾ lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
½ C chopped sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
2½ tsp cajun seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
2½ C cooked quinoa
1 C shredded fontina cheese
Fresh cilantro for garnish
Instructions
1. Toss the shrimp and 1 tsp Cajun seasoning together, set aside.
2. Toss the tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp Cajun seasoning, set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a cast iron skillet (or any oven-safe skillet.) Cook the shrimp until
opaque, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan along with the onion, jalapeno and garlic. Cook until the onion
and jalapeno are tender, stirring often. Mix in the quinoa, tomato paste, ½ tsp Cajun seasoning and tomato
chunks. Top with the shrimp and then sprinkle with the fontina cheese.
5. Place in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. During the last 2 minutes, turn on the broiler to high and broil
until the cheese is slightly brown and bubbly.
6. Garnish with fresh cilantro.
Notes
If you don’t like quinoa, you can sub the quinoa with brown rice.
Calorie content for 4 large (approximately 1.5 C) servings is around 410 calories per serving. For 6 (approximately 1C) small servings, the calorie count is about 270 calories per serving.
UPDATE: If you do not have a cast iron or oven-safe skillet, after mixing in the quinoa, tomato paste, Cajun seasoning and tomato chunks in step 4, transfer the ingredients to a casserole dish and then top with the shrimp and fontina cheese.
Mods: I used Quinoa and Brown Rice by Uncle Ben’s, you just steam it for 90 seconds. I also didn’t have fontina cheese on hand and used Monterrey Jack and Colby.
Verdict: I will definitely be making this again this week! It was delicious!
Bon Appetit!
i tried this recipe tonight!! it was a complete hit!!! even with the tomatoes (which i dont like generally), all the flavors blended favorably!! thanks for sharing! i have put this as a staple in my my repertiore!! 🙂
Glad you liked the recipe. It’s very good!
i love quinoa and can’t wait to try this!
I doubled the recipe the last time I made it! lol I think you will really enjoy it!