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Learn how to make escovitch shrimp, where lightly seasoned jumbo shrimp is pan fried and topped with a pickled dressing consisting of sliced onions, bell peppers, carrots herbs and spices.

Hey seafood lovers, I'm talking to you, are you bored with escovitch fish or maybe you just want to explore something new?

Whatever the answer is, don't worry because I've got you covered with this shrimp dish.

This is a spin off from the infamous escovitch fish, where typically snapper is used or another medium sized fish.

Instead, we will be using shrimp, which is a cheaper and more convenient alternative.

Of course nothing beats fresh fish from the beautiful Caribbean sea. However, when you are living in the disapora you don't always have access the freshly caught fish.

Let alone bream, parrot, doctor, butter fish and so fourth, therefore a plan b is needed.

You will still get that zesty bold flavour from building your own escovitch sauce, and the actual sauce is very similar to my escovitch sauce which is already on the blog.

Reasons to make this recipe

Perfect for people who like seafood i.e shrimp, prawns but don't care for large fish
Shrimp is a lot more accessible and cheaper then buying pounds of fresh fish
Easy to prepare from start to finish
You can adjust the recipe to suit .i.e. the tangyiness/level of spiciness and heat of sweeteness is at your discretion.

Ingredients you will need

Ingredients you need for escovitch shrimp

Shrimp - you will need to use shrimp that is jumbo, preferably raw (uncooked) with the tail on. If you purchase whole shrimp you will need to de-vain and cut the heads off.
Seafood seasoning/black pepper/pink salt - all the seasoning that is used to season the shrimp
Onion/peppers/cho cho/ carrots - the vegetables that are needed to form part of the escovitch sauce.
Vinegar - I like to use apple cider vinger but you can use any type of vinegar.
Thyme/pimento berries - Fresh thyme is best and whole pimento berries not the ground stuff.
Scotch bonnet pepper - I used 4 peppers, sliced one and left the others whole, you can slice all of them before be sure to remove the membrane to avoid excessive heat/spiciness.
Coconut sugar - used to balance that tartness.

The steps

Place the shrimp in a medium sized bowl and season with the seafood seasoning, black pepper and pink salt.
Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, in a medium sized frying pan, on medium heat.
Add the shrimp and cook the shrimp until they turn pink (this should take a few ingredients).
Once cooked, immediately remove and set aside.
In the same frying pan, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Saute the onion, bell peppers, cho cho and carrots for a few minutes.

Then add the thyme, pimento berries and scotch bonnet and continue to stir for a few minutes.
Pour in the apple cider vinegar and add the coconut sugar (if you are using it).
Allow the vegetables to simmer for about 5-6 minutes (stirring occasionally).
Do a taste test and add pink salt and black pepper.
Finally top the shrimp with the vegetables and escovitch sauce.
Serve immediately or leave to infuse (wrap the plate with the escovitch) overnight and serve the next day.

Notes and tips

Make sure to do a taste test before serving the escovitch.
The amount of vinegar being used is subjective, feel free to add more or use less if you wish to do so.
This is the recipe that you will need to make my Seafood Seasoning Recipe.
You can use any type of shrimp for this dish, however I do recommend ones that are raw so you don't run the risk of over cooking them.
Any type of vinegar works for this recipe, however I prefer to use apple cider vinegar.
Feel free to use MORE vinegar if you want a more tart taste.
You can slice ALL of the scotch bonnet peppers OR do what I did which was to slice one and leave the rest of them whole.
For best results, I highly recommend leaving the shrimp to pickle for several hours or overnight.

Escovitch shrimp with bammy on the side.

Other fish recipes to try

Serving suggestions

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