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The holidays are upon us. Friends and family will be gathering to celebrate the season, and some of that may be happening in your home. If so, you may be starting to think about what sorts of festive treats to serve up for the holidays this year. I’ve taken my favorite shrimp taco recipe and used it as inspiration to create a delicious red & green holiday appetizer using Puff Pastry: Margarita Shrimp Bites with Southwestern Sauce.
Here’s the How-To:
Marinate shrimp with lime juice, lime zest, sugar, and tequila. Defrost a Puff Pastry sheet and roll out into an even square. Cut into 16 equal squares.
Assemble the appetizers. Place one shrimp and one piece each of red and green bell pepper on top of each Puff Pastry square. Fasten corners together diagonally and seal with a fork and a bit of water.
These appetizers can be prepared ahead… up until this point. Place them all on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate several hours (or overnight) until ready to serve.
When you’re ready to bake these up and serve them, brush each bite with a swish of egg wash.
Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes, and they’ll come out golden brown and ready for eating… almost…
They need a drizzle of Southwestern Sauce (sour cream mixed with chopped chipotle chile/sauce, cumin, lime juice and salt). A single leaf of cilantro tops each bite.
I served up a whole bunch of these at a big birthday bash I threw for my husband last weekend. I baked two trays at a time and as soon as I took them out of the oven, I had people hovering over me with interest at what gourmet appetizer I was plating. 32 appetizers were gone in literally 32 seconds as I passed them around. Our guests loved them, noting that the sauce was perfect to top the Puff Pastry-wrapped shrimp.
With the red and green bell pepper and the green cilantro leaf, these would be a perfect appetizer for a holiday party.
MARGARITA SHRIMP BITES WITH SOUTHWESTERN SAUCE
Yield: 32 appetizers
SHRIMP & MARINADE:
32 large, frozen shrimp, peeled and de-veined
zest of one lime
juice of two limes
1 Tbsp. tequila
½ Tbsp. granulated sugar
SAUCE:
1 cup sour cream
1 large canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (seeded & chopped)
1 tsp. adobo sauce (from the can)
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ Tbsp. lime juice
1/8 tsp. salt
REMAINING INGREDIENTS:
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin 2-inch strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin 2-inch strips
1 box Puff Pastry
1 large egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. water
32 cilantro leaves (picked off of their stems)
Place shrimp and marinade ingredients in large zip bag, and let defrost in refrigerator overnight.
Mix sauce ingredients; transfer to a plastic, covered container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare appetizers: On a lightly floured surface, unfold one sheet of Puff Pastryand roll out to eliminate fold marks and to get a nice, even square. With a sharp knife, cut down the center both vertically and horizontally to create four equal squares. Then cut each square both vertically and horizontally to create four small squares. You should be able to create 16 small squares from one sheet of Puff Pastry.
Drain thawed shrimp and pull off tails.
Remove a small square to a cutting board work surface. Place one piece of red bell pepper and one piece of green bell pepper diagonally onto the square. Make sure that a little green is peeking out of one side and a little red is peeking out of the other side. Lay one shrimp on top of the peppers. Fold Puff Pastry corner to corner over the peppers and shrimp. Use a little water to stick the corners together and use a fork to seal the corners completely. Wrap the corner up and over the top of the appetizer (you won’t see the fork marks at all when you do this). Seal again with a tiny amount of water, if necessary. Place appetizer on parchment-lined (or greased) baking sheet. Repeat with remaining squares of Puff Pastry, shrimp and peppers. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.
When ready to serve, take off plastic wrap and brush each appetizer with egg wash. Bake in preheated 400 degree F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
To serve, move appetizers to a platter. Scoop southwestern sauce into a zip baggie. Snip a small piece off of the corner and drizzle onto each Puff Pastry bite. Place a cilantro leaf onto the top of each appetizer; serve immediately.
Cooking Tips:
*Leave out the tequila if you prefer to cook without alcohol.
*Try adding zest and juice from an orange as well, making this more of a citrus margarita shrimp.
*This appetizer may be assembled ahead of time- just wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
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This post is sponsored by Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry. Do you have a Puff Pastry creation to share? Enter the 1, 2, 3 Puff! Recipe Contest and you could receive an all-expense paid trip to New York City for a taste of the sweet life! Find more great recipes and enter to win at 123puffpastry.com.
32 Comments
We are always looking for tasty little bites for the holidays.
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What a festive presentation! I don’t often work with puff pastry, but it really is a cook’s best friend. Easy to work with, tastes delicious, and looks gorgeous.
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Wow beautiful!!
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These bites are perfect as appetizer in parties and with the creamy & spicy sauce well, for everyday!!
I understand why they were gone in seconds
Cheers!
Gera
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Great appetizer for the holidays!
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So cute and festive!
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Great idea and a beautiful presentation, too! Might do these for the neighborhood Christmast party this weekend.
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These look lovely and very tasty! I can imagine that they were snatched up in seconds.
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I’ve never tried puff pastry but this recipe looks so yummy that I want to try. Is it easy to work with?
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Lori Lange Reply:
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 AM
Puff Pastry is VERY easy to work with!
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Beeyootiful!! Such cheery little bites
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I had a dream last night that I made a carrot cake with puff pastry for this contest – how insanely weird is that?!?! Especially since I don’t plan on entering the contest
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Lori Lange Reply:
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Josie- I’m thinkin’ that’s a BIG sign of great things to come from your kitchen. You could totally come up w/ some sort of carrot cake/Puff Pastry invention for the contest. I’d consider…!
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Those look delicious – so festive!
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I have some pie crust in the freezer. Maybe I will try them with that. I hope it turns out as pretty as these!
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Perfect for parties! They look so easy, too.
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Talk about perfect little tasty apps! I would have a hard time not eating the whole batch!
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Oh, we are submitting a recipe to this one! A trip to NY would be sweet. And these are a nice twist on the typical holiday appetizer. These flavors are rare for this time.
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Lovely appetizers, Lori!
MMMMMMMMMM,…really tasty & lovely!
Yum!
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They look great and I’m down with anything that starts with tequilla!
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Great recipe idea! I’m always looking for good appetizer recipes. This one looks wonderful.
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Those look amazing! I can’t wait to try them.
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These look so pretty! I bet they taste fabulous.
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Everything about this is great…shrimp, puff pastry, that sauce! I would gobble all of these at a party.
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OH MY this looks amazing – How fun festive and easy!!
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Lori, these are so right up my alley. A SW Border appetizer if I ever saw one. Delicious.
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What a delicious little packet, Lori! And they are so simple to make although they end up looking elegant!
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Great idea! They look beautiful!
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RG,
Great idea.
I use puff pastry for some many things….it’s my favorite “convenience” food!
Happy Holidays,
Stacey
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I’ve never used puff pastry, but I think the kids and I might try this one. It looks like it’s something the three of us could do together….plus they love shrimp
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Love shrimp any way but, this recipe is to die for. I live and work in a drug rehab. and work very long hours. I have very little time for elaborate recipes but, enjoy a good home cooked meal.
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What a great idea! My friends will get these next time they come over for Appetizers! I love the festive green and red!
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They look amazing! I just recently found out how easy it is to work with puff pastry! I’m marking this one to try soon!
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Thank you for the detail pictures of how. If you don’t crimp corners with fork and properly seal Puff Pastry unfolds as shrimp & pastry expand. Very TASTEY made them for December 12th 2009 50th Birthday Bash!
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