Crevettes Flambées at Itínera Theater

Welcome to our kitchen at Itínera Theater! Granted, neither the kitchen nor the food that's prepared in it has much to do with the theater itself. But sometimes the dishes that get created are worth posting about. Such us this dish of flambéed shrimps.

Being located right next to the ocean, Mazunte is ideal for sea food, even if most fishermen freeze their goods immediately, so it doesn't matter if what you buy was caught that day or a week ago. Still, you shouldn't miss out on some delicious crustaceans, which in this case may even be called prawns. Okay, I know! Strictly speaking they are not the same, but in everyday use it's only their size that makes a difference. So why not call them camarones as they do here, or crevettes, as the French do, like Stef, the head chef of this tasty meal?

First we cleaned them... a little bit. That means, we left their tails and crusts on, removing only the heads and antennae. Then we steeped them a bit in olive oil with onions, garlic, and chiles before frying them on slow fire.

When they looked like they were just about done, we started with the impressive part: Getting out the vodka, Stef poured a good quantity into the pan, and lit it on fire. Whoo-hoo!!! A huge flame shot up from the pan, while he was giving them a nice shake, moving all the shrimp around in the juice, sauce, and flaming alcohol mix. Too bad the giant flame did not really come out in the pic, since we kept the lights on.

The final outcome was super tasty, just as we expected. However, the flambée part in my opinion was mostly great for show. Otherwise, it is the prawn itself that gave the dish its crunchy - juicy taste. Here we ate it with rice and some veggie thing we had left over. But I'm sure they would have tasted superb even just on their own...