An Excess of Peppers

I suppose I'll get right to it with a recipe for this evening's dinner.  Between my own vegetable garden and our local farmer's market, I had amassed way more peppers than two people could ever need.  There were three colors of sweet peppers (red, yellow wax, and purple), cubanelles, and poblanos in the fridge.  I also had a whole bunch of hot red chilies from my garden.  What to do!  The first thing that came to mind was fajitas, since I knew I had onions and frozen shrimp on hand too.

A word about frozen shrimp.  This is something I usually have.  Whole Foods has great quality domestic frozen shrimp at a consistently low price.  It's not something we eat more than once every two weeks or so, though, given that shrimp has a bit more cholesterol in it than most other things we eat.  It's a tasty treat once in a while, though.

Anyway, this meal was quick, tasty, and filling.  One of these days I'll start taking pictures of my food, but for now, here's the recipe.  It fed two of us, and we still had some peppers and onions leftover for lunch tomorrow.  This is great for a crowd too, since it doesn't take much longer to cook bigger quantities of this stuff.

SHRIMP FAJITAS

-frozen shrimp, peeled, deveined, and defrosted (16 small/medium size shrimp fed us)

-1/3 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pans

-half a lemon's juice

-1 tbsp chili powder, plus some extra

-1 tbsp cumin, plus some extra

-1 tbsp garlic powder, plus some extra

-1 red chili, chopped

-handful of cilantro, chopped

-spoonful of salsa, homemade or store bought (I used tomatillo salsa)

-3-6 assorted peppers, depending on size, seeded and sliced

-1 large onion, sliced

-fresh ground black pepper and salt, for seasoning

-flour tortillas

-Mix the 1/3 cup vegetable oil, lemon juice, spices, red chili, cilantro and salsa in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the shrimp and let marinate in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

-Get a large pan good and hot, and add a couple tablespoons of oil.  Add the sliced peppers and onions and toss in the extra seasonings.  Keep these moving periodically so everything cooks evenly and the spices distribute.  You know they're done when the slices are flexible and browning on the edges, but not yet mushy.  This should take 10-15 minutes or so on medium-high.  Don't forget to season with salt and pepper to taste.

-Get another pan equally hot, add a tablespoon of oil, and then add the shrimp.  Cook them until they are turning pink on the sides, maybe 2-3 minutes.  Flip the shrimp and cook until pink and just firm, another 2 minutes on medium-high.

-Serve these family style.  Put out the shrimp, peppers and onions, tortillas, and any other garnishes you might like right on the table.  Tonight we just stuck with some shredded cheddar cheese, but chopped tomato, fresh cilantro, or some sliced avocado might be nice too.