Out of the Box

It's been 9 years. 9 years have flown by since I had my first baby. We've grown together and his resiliency through it has been a treasure to say the least. That isn't his only quality. He's sweet, sensitive, funny, energetic and a bit of an out of the box thinker. Not in every area either, but he does have a knack for the unusual.



Take for instance his penchant for shrimp. This was acquired by age 2 and has only grown with him. I find it extremely unusual for a child to adore fish the way he does. In fact all of my kids. Not only does the kid like shrimp, but he finds exotic ways to include shrimp into a dinner. About 2 or 3 years ago I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, knowing full well he would say shrimp. When I then asked how he would like it he paused for about 3 seconds and answered very confidently "shrimp enchiladas".

This was not a usual around here. Shrimp tacos yes, shrimp and pasta yes, orange peel shrimp yes. We have never had an encounter with shrimp and enchilada. I have no idea where this idea entered his head. For sure something he found outside of the box. I thought for a moment to wave it off and go for the safe and always good orange peel shrimp. But if one doesn't follow sometimes, even if it's somewhere unknown, what fun would it be?



Remember this? This is our starting block. I made this sauce specifically for shrimp enchiladas but found it works great with other things. But if you haven't whipped this up yet you may want to for the rest of the recipe. A can of green enchilada sauce is ok, but I find it a little bland with the shrimp. Also some are not gluten free so watch out.

I think I'll break this up into photo steps. Good ideas are not always easy either.

Step One: Marinate the shrimp


We want to get a little time on these so I start marinating the shrimp while I get everything else ready.

I used half of the bag of frozen shrimp from Costco. I think it's about 1 1/2lbs. I buy the raw tail on and just remove the tail.

Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil
juice from half of a lime
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
and 2 cloves garlic minced

set this aside while we continue on.

Step 2: Enchilada sauce kick


Now this sauce is just fine as is, but one time I added a little something extra to it and found it to be above and beyond. I know I know I'm not supposed to eat much dairy and I have no excuse why that is in my house. It's just yummy. It's Mexican crema and if you haven't tried it yet I encourage you to. That is if you can take dairy. If you have it put about 1/2 cup of crema into 4 cups of your enchilada sauce. More often I just use yogurt because that is one thing my stomach can take. It adds a bit of weight to the sauce and probably your rear but who cares it's a birthday.

Step 3: Fry the tortillas


This step is optional. You don't have to fry tortillas for making enchiladas and I often do not to save time. You can easily wrap them in a wet towel and throw them in the microwave for 30 seconds to steam them. My family prefers them fried so I try to fry them if I can.

I have a pretty strict ritual for my frying that I will share with you now. I set up "zones" if you will, on my paper towel lined plate. I heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a small frying pan. I only leave the tortilla in the oil for about 20 seconds on each side. Then I move it to my plate and blot off the extra oil.



Then it gets moved to a separate zone that is for the degreased tortillas leaving room for the next one. And the upper left hand corner is for any that tear and I fry them until crisp to eat with guacamole or sauce. That is my obsessive frying ritual. Feel free to create your own.

Step 4 with no picture: semi cook your shrimp

I have no photo of my shrimp sort of cooking, but I'm sure you can follow. I just added a small amount of oil to a frying pan and toss in the shrimp marinade and all. Now this part seems odd, but you aren't going to cook them all the way. They will be going back into the oven and one time I cooked them all the way through and they became tiny rubber eraser things. So I under cook them a bit and it's much better. About 1 minutes per side. They will still be raw in the center. Remove them from the pan and cut them up into smaller pieces (this just makes it much easier to eat the enchilada).

Step 5: Prepare ingredients for assembly line


Now I get all my ingredients in order. Fried tortillas - check. Cut up semi cooked shrimp - check. Queso fresco crumbled - check (this can be found with the other cheeses and with the Mexican Crema). One bunch of diced green onions mixed with 1 cup diced cilantro - check (save some to sprinkle over the top). Enchilada sauce - check.

Step 6: Put it all together


I think I'll let the pictures do the talking, I'm sure you get the idea.









Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the assembled enchiladas and sprinkle the remaining queso fresco over the top.

Bake covered in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining cilantro and green onion.

Step 7: Serve and enjoy


I highly recommend some good beans and spanish rice with these.



Oh, and a little smothering of the Mexican crema is also a good idea if it doesn't cause you distress. Oh, I wish it didn't cause distress.



This one is so inspiring with his wandering imagination. I'm so glad he's taken me places I've never thought of. I'm so glad I've grown up enough to learn to follow. Happy birthday sweet pea!

p.s. For a great list of cookbooks for children with great taste check out this post on The Kitchn. My Amazon wish list is getting out of control!