Angry Shrimp With Citrus/Spinach Salad
Flour Mixture
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons California chili powder
1 tablespoons gray sea salt
1 teaspoons freshly-ground black pepper
Salad
2 blood oranges — peeled, sectioned,pith removed
2 tangelos — peeled, sectioned,pith removed
2 grapefruit — peeled, sectioned,pith removed
Salt — to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper — to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds shrimp - peeled — but with the tail on
6 large garlic cloves — thinly sliced
2 serrano or jalapeƱo peppers — thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup basil leaves — stemmed, cleaned
1 tablespoons julienned orange
1 bunch basil — cleaned
3 cup pre-washed spinach — stems removed
Mix the flour mixture for shrimp: Combine the ingredients and set
aside in container. This step can be done the day before dinner.
Peel and cut the citrus fruit into sections over a plate. Drain the
juice from the plate into a bowl. Season liberally with gray salt and
black pepper. Whisk in olive oil to form a vinaigrette (it should be
in proportion, about 2 parts juice to 1 part olive oil).
Season citrus sections with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little of the
vinaigrette on them to marinate and put them on a platter.
Have your fishmonger peel the prawns but leave the tails on for
handles. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Preheat a saute pan
on high. Dredge the shrimp in the flour mixture. This will give them
a nice crust and allow them to stay crispy and fresh at room
temperature. Add olive oil to the pan and put in 1 layer of shrimp.
You want them to caramelize, so don’t toss or move them. Add a little
more oil if the flour absorbs what’s in the pan. After about 3
minutes, turn over the prawns. Let it caramelize, toss and turn out
onto a cookie sheet.
Add about 1/4 cup more olive oil to the already hot saute pan. Drain
pan juices from the cookie sheet into the saute pan. Add sliced
garlic and let it get light brown. Add chiles and let them get soft.
Add the basil and stand back there’s a lot of water in basil and it
will pop. Let it get crispy, less than a minute. While this is
happening, arrange prawns over the citrus salad. Add the orange zest
to the basil/garlic/chile mixture in the saute pan. Season with salt
and pepper, then spoon basil/garlic/chile mixture over the prawns.
Toss the spinach with the citrus vinaigrette and mound on top of the
prawns. Serve.