Tacos de Camaron

There is a restaurant in the East Village called Mercadito that has the best shrimp tacos I have ever tasted.  They also make really good fried fish tacos and guacamole, but it's the shrimp tacos that really stick with me because the shrimp are in this creamy, spicy chipotle sauce that I love.  Yum.  About a month ago I saw a recipe on People.com for those tacos and I got really excited.  We had originally been planning on making a variation on some shrimp tacos that I had at Nada in Cincinnati, but I got all excited when I saw this recipe.  The tacos were good, but I'm not sure how faithful they are to the recipe that the restaurant actually uses.  At the very least, they have to puree the chipotle sauce because the shrimp is bathed in a really creamy, spicy and rich sauce at the restaurant with no discernible chunks.  This version was a lot more rustic (and a lot spicier than I remember), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  The sauce was a lot thinner - I think to replicate the sauce you would have to add some more butter and puree.  It might need a little something to give it some more oomph.  I didn't bother to take a bunch of pictures trying to get a really nice one because the tacos looked like a mess on a tortilla and there's really only so much you can do about that.  So long as you aren't afraid of mess, spice or chipotles, they are very tasty.  These aren't the best shrimp tacos we have ever made, but I would make them again with a few minor tweaks.

Recipe after the jump!


 
Tacos de Camaron
Available at People.com

INGREDIENTS:
18 medium shrimp, peeled, cleaned and diced
4 tbsp finely chopped garlic
6 tbsp diced red onions
3 tbsp pureed chipotle peppers or bottled chipotle puree
3 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tbsp butter
salt, to taste
6 corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced

Marinate shrimp with 2 tbsp garlic, 2 tbsp red onions, 2 tbsp chipotle puree and 1 tbsp. olive oil.

In a sauté pan, pour remaining olive oil. Sauté remaining garlic, red onions and chipotle puree until brown.

Add shrimp, lemon juice, butter and a pinch of salt. Sauté until shrimp is cooked.
Fill each tortilla with shrimp and top with 2 or 3 avocado slices. Serve immediately.