Diablo Shrimp Nachos Recipe
Turn your Sun Basket taco dinner into nachos worthy of your Oscar party. Cut the tortillas into wedges and bake them to make healthy chips. Serve with a batch of our micheladas.
Diablo Shrimp Nachos
Serves 2
In your bag
¼ pound shredded green cabbage such as Savoy
Sun Basket quick-pickle brine (apple cider vinegar – maple syrup)
1 poblano
1 green or red fresh chile such as jalapeño or serrano, optional
8 Mi Rancho 100% corn tortillas
10 ounces wild Gulf or tail-on jumbo shrimp
1 lime
Sun Basket diablo sauce (tomatoes – olive oil – tomato paste – fresh garlic – salt – dried New Mexican chile – coriander – dried Mexican oregano)
1½ ounces queso fresco
¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds
3 or 4 sprigs fresh cilantro
From your pantry
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, neutral oil
Tools
Colander, medium bowl, large frying pan, sheet pan
1 Quick-pickle the cabbage; cook the poblano and fresh chile
Heat the oven to 350°F
- In a medium bowl, combine the cabbage and quick-pickle brine, let stand, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the rest of the meal.
- Remove the stem, ribs, and seeds from the poblano and fresh chile; coarsely chop the poblano and finely chop the chile. Wash your hands after handling.
In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon [2 TBL] oil until hot but not smoking. Add the poblano and as much fresh chile as you like, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Do not clean the pan.
While the peppers cook, prepare the tortillas.
2 Bake the tortilla chips
- Cut the tortillas into wedges.
On a sheet pan, drizzle the tortilla wedges with 1 to 2 teaspoons neutral oil, season generously with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Spread in an even layer and bake, turning once halfway through, until crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.
While the tortilla wedges bake, prepare the shrimp and garnishes.
3 Cook the shrimp
- Rinse the shrimp, then drain on a paper-towel-lined plate and pat dry.
- Juice half the lime; cut the other half into wedges for garnish. [Juice 1 lime; cut the other lime into wedges.]
- Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the cabbage from pickling liquid.
In the same pan used for the poblano, if dry, add 1 teaspoon [2 tsp] oil. Warm over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Stir in the shrimp, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook until just opaque, about 1 minute. Add the diablo sauce, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring once or twice, until the shrimp are firm and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes for regular shrimp, 3 to 4 minutes for jumbo shrimp. Remove from the heat. Stir in the lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4 Serve
Transfer the tortilla chips to individual plates or serving platter, top with the cabbage, poblano, shrimp, and any remaining diablo sauce. Crumble the queso fresco on top. Garnish with the pumpkin seeds, cilantro sprigs, and serve with the lime wedges.
Market Watch: Poblanos are green, mildly spicy chile peppers popular in Mexican cooking, but they are grown organically in limited numbers. You may receive an organic green or yellow bell pepper in your bag instead; if so, follow the instructions as written for the poblano.
Nurition per serving: Calories: 620, Protein: 36g (72% DV), Fiber: 14g (56% DV), Total Fat: 22g (34% DV), Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 5g (25% DV), Cholesterol: 195mg (65% DV), Sodium: 1360mg (57% DV), Carbohydrates: 75g (25% DV), Total Sugars: 19g, Added Sugars (Maple Syrup): 6g (12% DV). Not a significant source of trans fat.
7 Reasons You Should Be Working Out
1. Boost Your Memory
A workout for your body is also a workout for your brain. Exercise improves memory and thinking skills by encouraging the body to produce chemicals that affect the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and the overall health of new brain cells. Gym rats may also benefit from an increase in the volume of the parts of their brains that control thinking and memory.2. Calm Your Mind
That boost of feel-good endorphins after a great workout is the real deal. These beneficial chemicals provide an immediate mood-lifting effect, while also curbing the stress hormone cortisol and eliciting calming brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. As for more long-term mental health benefits, the American Journal of Psychiatry published a study that found that if all participants had engaged in a minimum of one hour of physical activity each week, 12 percent of cases of depression in the future could have been prevented.3. Regulate Hunger
Think that working out will only make you hungry? Think again. Exercise may actually help you regulate your appetite. Neuroscientists have found that physical activity releases hormones associated with satiety. Additionally, exercise is a very effective stress reducer, which makes it a great antidote to emotional eating. Avid exercisers also report that the more they exercise, the more they’re motivated to choose healthy foods that provide optimal fuel.4. Live Longer
From disease prevention and reversal to its anti-aging effects, exercise is crucial to longevity. Any amount of exercise can add years to your life. According to one study funded by the National Institutes of Health, people who regularly engage in physical activity may add as many as 4½ years to their life.5. Sleep Better
Exercise can improve both the quantity and quality of sleep. Many researchers believe this is because exercise can spike daytime alertness, drive sleepiness at night, and strengthen our circadian rhythm. The kicker? The sleep benefits of exercise are not immediate: One study demonstrated that it takes 16 weeks of a consistent, regular exercise routine before sleep quality improves. Participants who stuck with a regular fitness routine for 16 weeks averaged an increase of 75 minutes of sleep.6. Smile More
One study found that just 20 minutes of exercise can boost your mood for 12 hours. Exercise is correlated with enhanced energy and alertness during the day; improved performance, both mentally and physically; greater productivity; and overall happiness.7. Think More Clearly
Exercise has been found to have cognitive boosting effects that allow us to exercise better executive function and decision-making skills. This translates into more thoughtful—and often healthier—food choices. That’s great news because we make about 200 food decisions every day. Artwork by Ekström DesignLive Like a Yogi
Meet Jenny Fant. Yoga teacher and open-water swimmer, Sun Basket’s marketing copywriter starts her day with a rush out the door, a ferry ride, and a gratitude list.
You get A LOT of exercise. Tell us about your fitness routine.
I work out every day; sometimes that looks like a seven-mile hike followed by a sweaty yoga class, and sometimes it’s just a quick swim at lunch. My workouts work around my life, not the other way around. I’m on a kick right now of trying things totally new to me, like indoor rock climbing and tumbling. My weekends are full of hiking, trail running, ocean swimming, and surfing. My lunch-break swims serve as a nice cushion in case life comes up after work (as it often does). That way, if my friends are grabbing dinner, I don’t think twice about canceling my evening workout.
Ocean swimming sounds intense. What’s that like?
I swim at the Dolphin Club in Aquatic Park, a cove in San Francisco Bay. No, I don’t wear a wetsuit (and yes, it is cold), but I believe that cold-water swimming is the most invigorating thing you can do. There is absolutely nothing like the feeling of getting out of 50°F water after a long swim. When I can’t make it to the Dolphin Club, I swim on my lunch break at a pool near the Sun Basket office.
What’s your morning routine?
I am not exactly a morning person (I’m working on it!), so I focus on efficiency and minimizing the time spent between getting out of bed and walking out the door. That means about 20 minutes to chug a Mason jar of water, brush my teeth, and wash my face, and sometimes plugging in a curling iron and brushing on some mascara—all to the sound of The Daily podcast.
I live a ferry ride and a short walk from the office, and my day really begins as soon as I’m settled on the boat with my coffee. I commute with one of my best friends, so after catching up on the past 24 hours and laughing a lot (the most important thing I do to start my day), I open my notebook, write the date at the top of a fresh page, and make a list of at least 10 things I’m grateful for. Sometimes they’re small things like “so many cute seals out on the water this morning!” and sometimes they’re bigger things—whatever’s on my mind at the moment. Then I write out my day: meetings, appointments, deadlines, exercise, dinner with friends, and a to-do list. If there’s time, I’ll try to do some personal writing—sometimes a poem or a journal entry, sometimes hashing out an idea I have. By the time I get to work, I feel like I’ve had sufficient time to prepare for my day and reflect on what I need to do, which is important to me.
How has your morning routine changed over the years?
I’ve gone through phases where the only time I could work out was early in the morning. That has probably been my biggest shift in the last couple of years, realizing that sleeping later and starting off a little slower some days just feels better. Even if I don’t end up getting a long run in, there is always a way to work in a short swim or quick walk during the day.
My breakfast routine has changed a lot, too. I’m not a huge breakfast person by nature, but the importance of breakfast is stressed in the health world, so I feel like it’s something I need to do. I’ve tried overnight oats, smoothies, and protein shakes, but now I just wait until I’m hungry to eat. Sometimes that’s right when I get to work, but if that isn’t until 11:30 a.m., so be it. I’m learning to listen to my body.
All the exercise means you burn a lot of calories. Do you follow any particular diet?
I aim for a plant-focused diet, but I’m not above adding half-and-half to my coffee most mornings, opting for a burger at family BBQs, or ordering octopus tacos just because they look interesting. I also incorporate many tenets of Ayurvedic nutrition in my diet, which involves a lot of specific choices based on my constitution, and guides me in eating mostly simple, nourishing dishes that promote healthy digestion.
What about sleep?
Sometimes I’m exhausted and I crawl into bed at 10 p.m. Other times I like catching up on projects, going to a late yoga class, messing around on the guitar, or just getting a late dinner to catch up with friends, and I won’t get to sleep until one or two in the morning. Sleep is an area I could improve, but my minimal mornings help keep things more balanced.
Do you do anything before going to bed to make mornings easier?
I have a couple of rules to make sure mornings go smoothly. First, I’m particular about keeping my space neat and tidy. I am so prone to misplacing things that the only way to stay sane is to be very methodical about where everything lives. Tidying up before bed helps me get out of the house faster in the morning.
Farms We Love
Here at Sun Basket, we’re committed to supplying our customers with responsibly sourced meats and seafoods, free of antibiotics and added hormones. This means that we only work with fisherman and ranchers who share our commitment to sustainable practices. Belcampo, a Northern California-based farm supplies many of our west coast customers with everything from chicken to pork to beef, all of which is responsibly-raised on Belcampo’s happy farms.
We love Belcampo’s transparency about their farming and butchering practices, which allows us to provide you with the best-quality product. While decoding meat and seafood labels can be confusing, Belcampo makes it easy. Here’s a look at one of our favorite west coast suppliers.
Your All-Time Favorite Recipes
This February, we’re showing some love to your favorite recipes by dedicating the month to recipes our customers can’t get enough of. Each week, we’re featuring your most beloved, tried and true recipes on our menu.
Whether your valentine is your best friend, your better half, or you, this is the perfect time to celebrate the greatest love of all: delicious, healthy food.
Here are this week’s customer favorites and what you had to say about why you heart them so.
Steak with Red Pepper Sauce and Rosemary-Roasted Vegetables: “This was one of the BEST meals we have ever had, ANYWHERE. AMAZING!”
Salmon with Lemon-Oregano Sauce and Artichoke-Fregola Pilaf: “I’ve made this 2 to 3 times since getting it!! It’s so FANTASTIC!”
Tofu Burgers with Oven Fries and Spicy-Sweet Chile Mayo: ”This is the best veggie burger ever. Even my carnivore husband liked!”
Gingered Turkey Meatballs in Lemongrass Broth with Cauliflower “Rice”: “Excellent flavors. A great reminder that healthy can be so delicious! That broth was killer. Also really appreciated the low sodium content.”
Penne and Meatballs in Marinara Sauce with Caesar Salad: “Our absolute favorite meal so far!!! Everything was so flavorful and tasty!! We couldn’t eat it all fast enough! Perfect recipe!”
Five-Spice Mixed Nuts Recipe
The ingredients in five-spice powder, and even the number of them, can vary according to who’s doing the blending. Traditionally, it includes anise, fennel, cinnamon, clove, and Szechuan peppercorns, though sometimes ginger and black pepper, too. The number five actually refers to the five tastes: sour, bitter, sweet, umami, and salty. Here, Sun Basket Test Kitchen chef Paul Conte uses it to season a mix of peanuts and cashews, but you can swap walnuts, pecans, or almonds. The one-two punch of five-spice and chili powder gives the nut mix a craveable salty, sweet, and spicy bite.
Five-Spice Mixed Nuts
Makes 4 cups
Shopping List
1 large egg
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
¼ teaspoon cayenne, optional
2 cups raw peanuts
2 cups raw cashews
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
Neutral oil, for greasing
Tools
Whisk, large bowl, small bowl, sheet pan
1 Prep the nuts
Heat the oven to 350°F.
- Working over 1 large and 1 small bowl, crack the egg and separate the white and yolk, carefully dropping the white into the large bowl and the yolk into the small bowl. Save the yolk for another use.
To the bowl with the egg white, add the coconut sugar, chili powder, salt, five-spice powder, sesame oil, and as much cayenne as you like. Whisk until combined. Add the peanuts, cashews, and sesame seeds and stir to coat.
2 Roast the nuts
- Lightly grease a sheet pan.
On the prepared sheet pan, spread the nuts in an even layer and roast, carefully stirring a few times to prevent them from sticking to the pan, until the nuts are browned and crunchy, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet pan.
3 Serve
Transfer the cooled nuts to a serving bowl, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Chef’s Tip: If you choose to store the nuts and find the nuts starting to lose their crunch, you can crisp them back up in a 300°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes.
Nutrition per serving: Calories: 300, Protein: 10g (20% DV), Fiber: 3g (12% DV), Total Fat: 24g (37% DV), Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.5g, Saturated Fat: 4g (20% DV), Cholesterol: 15mg (5% DV), Sodium: 420mg (18% DV), Carbohydrates: 16g (5% DV), Total Sugars: 5g, Added Sugars: 3g (6% DV). Not a significant source of trans fat.
Bonus recipe—ingredients not included in box.
A Potato Primer
Even people who claim to hate vegetables (who are those people, anyway?) love potatoes. Sturdy absorbers of flavor, potatoes can go anywhere and do anything. Dress ‘em up, dress ‘em down, put them in soups, toss them in a salad, turn them into chips and serve them with a sandwich (or put those chips in a sandwich), mash them and let those spuds cozy up beside a ribeye. There’s little that a potato can’t do, and even fewer people who can resist them.
Though they look as resilient as rocks, potatoes are actually quite sensitive, particularly to changes in the weather. Right about now, as temperatures begin to warm, potato plants start to slow their production, making it challenging for our buyers to purchase all we need to fulfill our Sun Basket orders. The season for sweet potatoes is the exact opposite as it is for regular potatoes. They’re a warm-weather crop that’s just getting started in this in-between season. That’s why you may find a different variety of potato in your meal bag than the one listed in the ingredient list.
There are over 4000 species of potatoes, though most have never made it beyond the borders of the tuber’s native Peru. Here at Sun Basket, we typically reach for five different kinds.
Russets—Floury and dry, russets cook up light and fluffy. These are the classic bakers, and are also the ones to pick for mashing and frying.
New potatoes—These are freshly dug potatoes that come to the market without curing (an aging process that most potatoes go through before being shipped to stores), and have a shorter shelf life than regular potatoes. New potatoes hold their shape when boiled, which makes them great for salads and also for roasting.
Yukons—Characterized by their pale yellow flesh, Yukons are incredibly versatile. They’re excellent mashers, hold their shape well in salads and soups, and are a wonderful choice for gratins.
Garnet sweet potatoes—Quite moist, garnets have an orange-yellow flesh and an rich, sweet flavor.
Japanese yams—Unlike garnet sweet potatoes, this Japanese variety has a pale white flesh that’s much drier than a red-fleshed sweet potato, with a more full-bodied flavor.
Chef’s Tip: When you unpack your Sun Basket, remove the potatoes and store them in a paper bag in the coolest part of your kitchen. Refrigerator temperatures are too cold for potatoes.
At Sun Basket, our commitment to seasonal cooking means that sometimes we must adapt to the unpredictability of the marketplace. Sometimes you’ll find fresh produce in your box that’s different than what’s shown in the photograph of the recipe. In our Market Watch, we explore these potential substitutions and share some more information about the seasonal vegetables in your box each week.
Illustration by @boccaccinimeadows
We Heart Sun Basket
February is customer favorite month at Sun Basket, which means our menu is packed with your all-time favorite meals.
But you’re not the only fans of the dishes our test kitchen creates every week, all across the company, Sun Basket meals have changed the way our employees cook and eat. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we asked our co-workers to tell us why they love cooking Sun Basket meals.
“They bring me back to my roots. My mom is Filipina and my dad is Syrian and Portuguese. Food is such a big part of all three cultures, so it plays a huge role in our life. When we think of food, we think of family. I love seeing recipes on the Sun Basket’s menu like chicken adobo, and seasonings like allspice, za’atar, and sumac. They remind me of the time I spend with my family cooking and enjoying meals together.” Nicole Farray, Marketing Partnerships Coordinator
“Having a baby a few years ago made it hard for me to plan, shop, and prepare dinner. When I went back to work, there was even less time. Sun Basket has made my weekly menu planning seamless and fun. I believe in the product, I love the recipes, and I look forward to cooking the meals every week.” Amy Offen-Reeves, Test Kitchen Coordinator
“I love to cook, but often find myself making the same meals for dinner week after week. Sun Basket introduced me to so many foods and recipes that I wouldn’t normally cook because I don’t have experience making them. Cooking a couple of Sun Basket meals every week gives me so much more variety, but also allows me to try new ingredients without having to commit to buying large quantities at the grocery store or going out to a restaurant.” Ashley Goldsmith, Deputy Editorial Director, Content
“It’s changed the way I eat in so many different ways. No more decision fatigue. Sun Basket offers endless variety, signature sauces and spice blends without hidden preservatives, and there’s always enough leftover for lunch the next day. I also love that I can explore new ingredients, techniques, and cuisines. But most importantly, it gives me more time for myself because I don’t spend part of my week searching for recipes, inventorying my pantry, grocery shopping, and meal prepping. Oh, and the delivery means no more hassle of carrying groceries from the store to my apartment.” Lindsey Kane, Director of Nutrition
“When I started working at Sun Basket in late 2016, I cooked the first meal I’d ever prepared for my wife. We’ve been married for 27 years and I’d only ever made packaged food for her. But I remember showing Chef Justine the picture I took of that first meal, I was so proud. I still cook Sun Basket meals for dinner when it’s just the two of us.” Matson Wade, Head of Platform Engineering
“I’ve always loved to cook, but buying groceries for one person is difficult and can result in a lot of wasted food. Sun Basket has not only upped my cooking game, but significantly reduced waste, too.” Marcos Henrich, Print Production Manager
Root Vegetables: The Underground Economy
Our commitment to seasonal cooking here at Sun Basket requires us to adapt to the unpredictability of the marketplace. Sometimes you’ll find fresh produce in your box that’s different than what’s shown in the photo of the recipe. Here, we explore those potential substitutions and share some information about the seasonal vegetables in your box each week.
If there’s one family of vegetables we can count on in the midst of the coldest winter, it’s roots.
Protected from the elements beneath a warming layer of dirt, root vegetables laugh at the cold weather, growing sweeter while the temperatures fall. Once the days grow warmer, their leaves begin to bolt, and the roots themselves turn bitter.
While roots vegetables are plentiful right now, high demand—particularly for organic ones—means that our buyers sometimes struggle to get the amount they need to fill all of our orders. When that happens, we need to substitute one organic root for another.
This wide-ranging category includes carrots, celery root, parsnips, radishes, turnips, beets, and more. Because the range is so diverse, the nutritional content of root vegetables varies. They are typically low in calories and rich in fiber. Carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene, while beets provide a solid dose of folate.
Illustration by @boccaccinimeadows
Holy Trinity: The Soul of the New Orleans Kitchen
When making stocks, sauces, and stews, most cooks rely on the layering of ingredients to build flavor. In classic French cuisine, 2 parts onion to 1 part each celery and carrot form what’s known as mirepoix. Typically sautéed in fat to create a foundation, mirepoix is the ingredient trifecta used as the base of a wide range of dishes—and a recipe every cook should know.
But if you’ve ever eaten a bowl of gumbo, étouffée, or shrimp Creole in New Orleans, where the French influence is strong, you’ll find a reverence for a similar threesome known as the holy trinity. Cajun cooks riff on the French aromatics and swap the sweetness of carrot for bell pepper, creating the jazzy cornerstone of many savory dishes.
You’ll find this well-known combination in a variety of dishes from home kitchens to restaurants across the entire city this time of year. Many New Orleans chefs have gardens on their restaurant grounds with peppers, onions, and celery growing—a testament to the importance of using fresh ingredients.
With all that flavor, you can let the good times roll—or, as they say in the Big Easy, “laissez les bons temps rouler”—and still eat lean and clean.
Recent Comments