My Chef's Hat - Spicy Shrimp with Avocado Lettuce Cups

I'm pretty sure the only places I've ever had lettuce cups is PF Chang's and sushi restaurants.  I don't really know why I've never tried them at home before. I've found recipes online, but just never made them.  Well, with this new low-carb kick, and the awesome recipe I found on Pinterest for Spicy Shrimp & Avocado Lettuce Cups, I knew I had to give it a try.  I also wondered why I never just bought bib lettuce before, but once I found it in the grocery story and saw how expensive it was, that was my easy answer.  But I figure if I could get 3-4 meals out of it, it would be worth it.

Here is the official recipe picture:

And here is my version:

I learned one thing really quickly...using one piece of lettuce per "cup" is not very effective, for 2 reasons.  Each piece is pretty limp, and therefore hard to hold in all the goodness.  And second, almost every piece has a hole in it, so the food tries to escape!

This was really delicious!!  And she wasn't kidding when she said it was spicy.  Roasting the jalapenos helped to mellow that heat, but I forgot and didn't remove any of the seeds.  And trust me...even when roasted, jalapeno seeds still pack a huge punch.  The recipe wasn't fully clear on the red peppers so I went ahead and roasted those and some red onion at the same time for additional flavor.  The avocado and the lettuce provided some much-needed relief from the heat.  And you know, I might try this with romaine lettuce next time, just to see.  If it works just as well, I'll definitely do that.  Because if I have to double the butter lettuce each time, it won't go very far.

I don't have a mortar and pestle, and didn't want to buy it and only use it every few weeks.  So instead I bought a coffee grinder and figure I'll get more use out of that.  We shall see.  Using the grinder I needed a little more olive oil than the recipe called for, but that wasn't the end of the world. 

Will I make this again?  Of course!  My mouth was on fire for about an hour after dinner, but it was well worth it, and that can be fixed pretty easily.  It's light, healthy, and really good.


Recipe found on Aggie's Kitchen

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