Spicy Spanish Shrimp with White Beans

This is a good meal for a cold night. I have always been a huge fan of white beans because they are cheap, easy to make, and taste great. Of course they will make you fart like a pack mule but to me it is worth the heavy burden to eat them anyway. This is a Spanish recipe that I made up in my head. The beans are the main part of the meal but the extra treat is the shrimp, which obtain their great flavor in a marinade of garlic, paprika, olive oil, etc.

The next thing is to start the beans and to get them going. The picture below shows most of the ingredients used in the recipe.

The paprika I used in this is super good. Try and buy the can pictured above with the red top. Anyway, you need to start off buy sweating the onions, garlic, and red pepper.

After cooking the onions, garlic, and red pepper down, you need to add the chopped tomatoes and the beans and let that cook until the tomato liquid has cooked down. Once they have cooked down and absorbed the all the tomato juice, you need to add the stock.

Let the mixture cook down some and all of the flavorings come together. Once that part has been done, you add the shrimp to the pan and nestle them down into the beans for even cooking.

Sometimes it helps to have a sous chef to assist you in the kitchen. Unfortunately, mine has found his owl and decided on taking a nap. He will awaken to find his paycheck docked...

One of the most important parts of this recipe is the bread that accompanies the meal. I went ahead and toasted it on the BBQ because it tastes so much better. It is really good to scoop up some of the beans on the bread and away you go.

Once everything is done, this is how it should look. A little spicy and tart but hearty and tasty. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

SPICY SPANISH SHRIMP WITH WHITE BEANS

1) 4 cloves garlic
2) 1 yellow onion
3) 1 red bell pepper
4) 2 tomatoes
5) 1 T. tomato paste
6) Juice of 1 lemon
7) 1 can white beans
8) 1 T. paprika
9) Parsley
10) Red pepper flakes
11) White wine or chicken stock
12) Good bread

Start off by marinating the shrimp in two cloves garlic, salt and pepper, paprika, and olive oil. Set that aside in the refer to get good and marinated. Once that is done sweat down the onion, garlic and red pepper over a nice, medium temp. Do not brown it. Once they have cooked down, add the paprika, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, paste, a little wine or stock and tomatoes. Cook this down and reduce it until the liquid is absorbed. Add a little more stock if needed. Add the beans and stir everything around until well-mixed. Nestle the shrimp down into the beans and put the skillet into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Finish it off by putting it under the broiler for a few moments and there you have it!