Looking for a Little Spice?

Sunday night was hot!  Not just the temperature, but also our dinner.  (That was so clever, right?)  There is something you should know before I go any further.  I adore Mexican food.  Absolutely love it!  It always sounds good and I always crave it.  Seems kind of funny considering I am just a good old Midwestern girl whose only Mexican food experience growing up was tacos and maybe the occasional fajita.

These days I am a little more experimental when it comes to my Mexican food choices.  I am a huge fan of Rick Bayless.  He's an amazing Chicago chef whose passion is Mexico and Mexican food.  He has a couple of really great restaurants here, including Xoco (pronounced show-co), which is a reasonably-priced place with amazing food.  If you ever visit Chicago and you like Mexican food, go there!

Speaking of Rick Bayless, he is the reason my Sunday night was so hot.  I made a recipe that I found in the July issue of Food and Wine Magazine written by him.  It turned out fantastic and I absolutely love that it made extra sauce! 

Shrimp with Spicy Chipotle-Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup Salsa Negra with Chipotle (recipe follow)
salt and pepper
1 1/4 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions

1. In a blender, puree the diced tomatoes. In a medium saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the tomato puree and cook over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until very thick, about 7 minutes. Add the Salsa Negra and 1/3 cup of water and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Brush the shrimp with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat, turning once, until lightly charred and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drizzle the shrimp with the sauce, sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Salsa Negra with Chipotle

Ingredients
3/4 cup chipotles in adobo sauce (from a 7-ounce can), stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon molasses, preferably unsulfured
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

1. In a blender, combine the chipotle chiles with the molasses, balsamic vinegar, dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the water. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
2. Strain the sweet chipotle puree through a fine strainer into a small saucepan, pressing on the solids with a spatula to extract as much of the puree as possible.
3. Simmer the chipotle sauce over moderately low heat, stirring frequently with a heatproof rubber spatula, until it is very thick, pasty and reduced to 3/4 cup, about 20 minutes. Remove the salsa from the heat. Stir in the soy sauce and remaining 1/4 cup of water. Serve the salsa negra hot or at room temperature.

Yum, this is a great meal.  In fact, I didn't have shrimp (I thought I did...forgot to check and just assumed), so instead of grilling some shrimp, I sauteed some white fish and made this into fish tacos.  I served it with simmered black beans and fresh mango.