Shrimp in Zippy Tomato Sauce 

You can make the tomato sauce base as mild or spicy as you prefer.  I started with a mild tomato sauce then added the spicy goods at the end when I brought the shrimp and sauce together.  I kept aside half of the mild sauce for the sensitive folks in my family.  That's just the way I have to roll.

HERE'S HOW EASY THIS IS

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded & chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 (14 ounce) can plum tomatoes, chopped with their juice
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 pounds shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried
• 1 piece dried chili, crumbled or chopped (optional) OR 1-2 teaspoons of the tomato sauce that comes from the canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Serves 6

In a heavy saucepan, heat half of the oil.  Add the onion, and cook over low heat until soft.  Stir in the celery and chopped bell pepper, and cook for 5 minutes more.  Raise the heat to medium high, and add the red wine vinegar and tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.

Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer until the veggies are soft, about 30 minutes.  Puree the sauce through a food mill OR a food processor then push it through a sieve with a spatula. Set tomato sauce aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a clean heavy saucepan.  Stir in the garlic, parsley and chili, if using.  Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the garlic is golden.  Do not let it brown.  Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil.  Taste for seasoning.

Stir in the shrimp. Bring the sauce back to a boil.  REDUCE heat slightly and simmer until the shrimp are pink and firm, 4-6 minutes, depending on their size.  Remove from the heat and serve.

My Notes

• It would be just as easy to use leftover, homemade tomato sauce from a previous spaghetti dinner.
• I happened to have been given garlic pickled with habeneros and used them instead of fresh garlic - WOW! They were HaahhOT & YUMMY!
• I didn't have a dried chili on hand.  But I had some leftover chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and used the smokey tomato sauce to heat up the freshly made tomato sauce.  It deepen the flavor of the sauce and made it hard to stop eating.  I was drawn to sopping my plate before I could claim I was finished.