Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Salsa and Creamy Avocado

I might have mentioned that I have children, and that they eat next to nothing.  My son eats oatmeal.  Pretty much that’s all he eats.  My daughter eats chicken nuggets and pasta, but her diet principally consists of ketchup.  So when one of them eats something with any kind of food value, I get really excited.   Recently, my son started eating oranges, although I use the word “eating” loosely.  What he was actually doing was chewing on orange slices, sucking out the juice, and then spitting out little deflated orange balloons.  All over my house.  But still, I got very enthusiastic about his orange intake and I proceeded to buy about 10 pounds of different kinds of oranges.  At which point, of course, my son ceased all further ingestion of oranges, and I was stuck with a refrigerator full of citrus.

 So I decided it was the perfect time to revisit my shrimp/avocado/citrus project.  I love those three flavors together, but I could never figure out the right vehicle.  For a while I played with a salad, but the textures were all wrong – too uniformly slippery.  Lettuce didn’t help much.  Neither did toasted pumpkin seeds.

 Then I came up with the answer that was so simple that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.  Spice up the shrimp, stick them in a taco on a bed of some creamy avocado, top with a citrus salsa.  Perfect!  I actually used a blood orange (I told you I got enthusiastic about the oranges) and the color is lovely, but you are welcome to stick to oranges, with maybe a ruby red grapefruit thrown in. 

 I’ll tell you straight up, there are two annoying things about making this dish.  The first is my perpetual pet peeve: deveining shrimp.  You can buy them deveined, but I never want to spring for the added expense. The other annoyance is dealing with the citrus, because you have to remove all the pith and peel and stuff that my son was so fond of spitting out.  That involves a technique called “supremeing.”  Basically, you have to cut the ends off the citrus, and then use your knife to remove all of the pith and peel, leaving just the flesh.  Then you want to cut between each segment of the citrus, removing it from the thin membrane.  I am totally not a purist about this.  It doesn’t have to be pretty for it to taste good.  And, let me say this: it tastes delicious.  Something about the spicy shrimp, with the cool salsa and the avocado, is just really yummy.

SPICY SHRIMP TACOS WITH CITRUS SALSA AND CREAMY AVOCADO

 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chili powder

1tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more, if you like things spicy)

salt and pepper

 For the salsa:

2 oranges, segments removed

1 ruby red grapefruit, segments removed

1 blood orange, segments removed

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp mint, chopped

 For the avocado

1 ripe avocado

1 lime

salt

 Tortillas

Toss the shrimp with the olive oil and spices and broil until just cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Mash the avocado together with a sprinkle of salt and the juice of the lime, until it is a smooth paste and set aside. 

 Mix all of the citrus in a bowl together with the olive oil, salt, pepper and mint.

Assemble the tacos:  heat up the tortillas over a low flame or covered in a low oven until they are warm.  Spread with some of the avocado and then add some shrimp.  Top with the citrus salsa and enjoy!