How to Make Crunchy Shrimp Tacos

[Music] the coastal areas of mexico are famous for their seafood tacos and one in particular takes juicy shrimp and mixes it with tomatoes chilies creamy cheese and it all gets tucked into a crisp corn tortilla and that's what we're making today and julia is going to show us all about it that's right they're called tacos gubernator and as the story goes there's a chef in mazatlan that name these in honor of the governor of the state of sinaloa so they're very regal tacos and as you said they're filled with a fresh tomato sauce and cheese and shrimp so let's get started on the sauce we have two fresh tomatoes i'm simply going to take the cores out using a paring knife here's the second one now we're just going to chop them up so i'm just going to slice these tomatoes into planks slice the planks into long batons there we go that's two tomatoes now we're ready to move on to an onion this is just a small onion we're just gonna dice it finely so in order to chop an onion finely you want to cut it three different times the first time you want to cut it towards that root end but not through it because that root end will really hold all those onion layers together the second cut it's a horizontal cut right through the center that's the dicey one if you happen to go all the way through that's okay just set it off to the side and cut it later that's the dicey one that is the dicey one yep all right next we have a jalapeno just a little bit of heat we're going to chop this up into a fine mince yes or no to the seed some are all i'm proceeds your proceeds so that means i'm going to scrape all these seeds right into that bowl because the seeds are where all the heat is i'm going to take these bigger pieces out and just chop them up all right so to cut the pepper up into a nice mince i'm going to slice it lengthwise into long pieces and then crosswise into a nice mince all right i'm just going to turn the skillet on because we're actually going to cook this mixture over medium-high heat and in this 12 inch skillet i have just a tablespoon of vegetable oil so we'll let that heat up for a few minutes while we finish our sauce mixture sounds good so to round out the flavors i'm going to add two minced garlic cloves i have a tablespoon of fresh lime juice this next ingredient it's a little weird it's two tablespoons of ketchup so a lot of the traditional recipes we found added tomato paste which adds a deep hearty flavor and a nice round base for the sauce but some we found used ketchup and actually we like the flavor of the ketchup better now we're going to add just a teaspoon of salt quarter teaspoon of pepper if you notice i'm just stirring all this stuff together in a bowl all right so here we have the pan you can see that oil is shimmering so in goes our sauce mixture okay we're gonna let this cook down i'm gonna keep my eye on it for about five minutes or so you're gonna see a lot of the juices of the vegetables come out and then start to evaporate and the shape of the tomatoes will start to soften a bit okay in the meantime let's talk about the star ingredient the shrimp this is a pound of shrimp so obviously these have been peeled and deveined and i'm just going to cut them up into half inch pieces now these are 26 30s that means there's 26 to 30 shrimp per pound all right so i'm just going to finish chopping up this shrimp while that sauce finishes cooking and that takes about five minutes all right so you can see this sauce has cooked down all right so now i'm going to turn the heat down to medium we're going to add the shrimp right to the skillet stir them in we're going to let these cook for about two minutes again over medium heat now they won't cook through completely they'll just start to turn opaque because they're gonna finish cooking in the taco we want them to stay nice and juicy and tender that's it all right so let's work on the taco itself so traditionally this recipe is cooked a lot like a quesadilla the tacos are cooked in a skillet one or maybe two at a time which takes a long time if you're feeding more than one person yeah and you end up eating alone that's right so we found a way to make these tacos in the oven and they still get just as crisp but it's easier and you get them all done at the same time love it all right so first i want you to put some oil on a brimmed baking sheet vegetable oil all right i think i can handle that yup and then you want to spread it around all right so now we're going to lay these corn tortillas about six of them all right right flat on the baking sheet and then we're going to brush them with about a tablespoon more oil and this is going to help them really get a nice fried crisp texture so now we're going to put a little cheese on top this is eight ounces of monterey jack which has a little bit of flavor but it's really just a good melter by putting it on the bottom it acts almost as a little barrier for the shrimp that go on top to help prevent some of those juices from dripping down onto the tortilla making it soggy all right that looks pretty good now let's take a look at our filling so it's been about two minutes since we added the shrimp you can see they're opaque but they're not fully cooked through which is perfect i'm going to transfer the mixture to a bowl stop it from cooking and i'm going to take the bowl get a spoon and walk off all right time to assemble all right just going to spread the filling evenly over the cheese of course we'll start with a modest amount of shrimp on each taco we can go back and even it out gotcha all right so these are ready for the oven now the heat of the oven and the oven rack are very important here it's a rippin hot oven 450 degrees and it's on the lowest rack that means that oven heat's going to be directed right onto the bottom of the sheet pan so it can help crisp up those tortillas love it we have to cook them one at a time and they're going to cook for about seven to nine minutes what you're looking for is that bottom tortilla is good and golden crisp all right [Music] these are beautiful if i say so myself so in order to check the doneness of these tacos you want to slide a spatula underneath oh you see that nice and crisp we're going to top them then fold them great so a little bit of shredded lettuce and this is iceberg lettuce fresh and crunchy all right a little bit of avocado use your fingers beautifully diced here a little bit of cilantro and this is optional this is hot sauce it's up to you whether you want to do hot sauce or not i'll show you hot sauce she says all right last but not least we're going to fold them up now using a spatula you can kind of loosen them from the sheet you fold them over let that melty cheese help anchor them you arrange them in a nice dish and a nice tall dish like this really helps the tacos stand up all right so all this filling and topping and folding you want to do pretty quickly because they will start to get firm and start to crack this one has a little bit of that frico that fried cheese oh yes oh that's the little gift these tacos give you a little bit of a cheesy edge and this is why we love this recipe you can serve them all at once some limes here and some extra hot sauce if you're in the mood i like to put a little bit of fresh lime juice on there i'm taking your lead oh yeah governor governor i can see a lot of times where these would come in real handy right fried corn crispy cheesy plump shrimp when you think about it ketchup shrimp and cheese doesn't sound like an amazing taco filling but it really is i mean it has the spice it has the heat thanks to our chili seeds and it just has flavor that's fresh and bright and these do not taste like ketchup at all but there's a really nice bright flavor in there the sweetness you get that vinegar hip the shrimp are so tender so so tender and i love this assembly method too yeah you can just drop this on a table in the stocco night thanks julia i see you have a column for you and a call i'm already on number two i noticed that i got to catch up you're going to want to make these tacos at home and it starts with a quick cooking sauce take fresh tomatoes jalapenos lime juice and a bit of ketchup and then cook chopped shrimp in the sauce for just a couple of minutes top corn tortillas with monterey jack put the shrimp mixture on top and bake garnish with avocado fold them over and serve so from cook's country delicious juicy and fresh shrimp tacos you can get this recipe and all the recipes this season along with tastings testings and select episodes on our website cookscountry.com tv thanks for watching cook's country from america's test kitchen so what'd you think leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or just say hi now you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our channel see you later alligator

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 51,123

Rating: 4.9642568 out of 5

Keywords: cooks country, americas test kitchen, cooks illustrated, shrimp tacos, crunchy tacos, tacos, recipes, taco recipes, shrimp, seafood

Id: hAPuAFyEqyA

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 05 2021