the review: rosemary-citrus shrimp tacos

Seriosly, these photos are lame. Go to the original blog and check out her photos. So much more appetizing.

I was really excited to make rosemary-citrus shrimp tacos. Gluten free, vegetarian, and still appealing to the carnivores in my house? Sign me up. I was looking for big flavor. A tasty little Sunday night treat. Right. So Sunday morning, I started my usual process of going through each recipe on the weekly menu to build my grocery list and that’s when I noticed that the “rosemary-citrus” portion of these shrimp tacos was a pre-made dressing. Really? There was no way I was going to find rosemary citrus dressing in my local grocery store.

I love the internet. There are a plethora of recipes out there for citrus rosemary sauce. I picked this one. This sauce is very light. If you are looking for something sweet and light to go with fish or chicken, this might do the trick. If you are making shrimp tacos, I might keep looking. In a pinch, maybe throw some jalapeño into the mix and marinate the shrimp a bit prior to cooking. Also, be generous with the salt and pepper, both in the dressing and on the shrimp. I’ll admit that once I piled my taco high with cabbage, red bell pepper, salsa, and avocado, I didn’t care that the shrimp was bland. Ok, maybe I still cared a bit.

This particular recipe called for pan cooking the shrimp then tossing them with dressing at the last minute. I think the tacos would be greatly improved by grilling the shrimp after letting them marinate a bit. Another added bonus? We sliced a little mango as a topping to entice the little kids to try the tacos. Turns out, mango is a delicious shrimp taco topping. Also turns out that at least some of the kids ate their shrimp first then ate the rest of their tacos. No enticement needed.

In the end, most of the family really enjoyed this meal. I think I was most critical (after Gus who all out refused to eat anything but the mango and one shrimp) of dinner. Four out of the other five diners went back for seconds. Not bad for a quick little meal. 

Oh, and P.S. for the day's extra bonus? One of the kids did the grocery shopping. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Might be adding that to my routine from now on...