Camarones Enchilados — Cuban Shrimp Creole

Ingredients

• 1¼ lb Shrimp
• 1 onion + 1 bell pepper + 4 cloves garlic (sofrito)
• 1 can (14 oz) tomato sauce
• ⅓ cup green olives + 1 tbsp capers
• ¼ cup white wine or stock
• 1 tsp cumin + 1 tsp oregano + 1 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Rice — the sauce demands it

Method

1. Build the sofrito: onion, pepper, and garlic softened golden in the oil with the cumin and oregano.
2. Add the tomato sauce, wine, olives, capers, and bay; simmer 10 minutes into a glossy, briny-sweet sauce.
3. Slide in the Shrimp and cook just 3–4 minutes until pink and curled — the sauce was the marathon; the shrimp is a sprint.
4. Taste: it should ride between tomato sweetness and olive salt.
5. Serve over rice with the sauce in charge. Cuban abuelas measure the dish by how much rice the sauce conscripts — plan for seconds.