Mario Batali’s Spicy Shrimp Saute

I am always interested in what chefs want to eat after work, and what restaurants serve the waiters before the customers arrive; often called the “family meal”. You just know it will be delicious, but fairly easy to prepare. Mario prefers something easy and spicy after a ten hour shift in the kitchen, along with cold beer or sake. This is one of his favorites.
There are a few ingredients probably not in your pantry, but I found them all at Trader Joe’s. The whole thing takes about 15 minutes and tastes like something special. I found it a bit spicy for our taste, so reduced the marinade ingredients a bit the second time. Make sure your light coconut milk is the rich thick liquid that comes in a can, not the larger container of thin coconut water meant as a beverage.

2 Tbs. red curry paste

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup sambal

1/4 cup sweet chili sauce

2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 Tbs. light sesame oil

1 cup sliced scallions

2 Tbs.sweet soy sauce

1 (14 oz.) can light coconut milk

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Combine curry paste, fish sauce, sambal and chili sauce in a medium bowl; add shrimp, tossing to coat. Place a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil, and heat until smoking, then add the shrimp mixture and saute for 2 minutes. Add scallions; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in sweet soy sauce and coconut milk. Cook for 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated and the shrimp is cooked through. Add cilantro and serve. 4 Servings.

Note: I used regular soy sauce and large shrimp. 8 minutes seemed too long to cook shrimp in a hot pan, so I took them out after 5 minutes and added them back in to heat through at the end and they were perfect.(Can’t believe I’m second guessing Mario Batali!) You could use chunks of chicken as well, and cook a bit longer.