Creamy Creole Stew

As you can see, I also cooked up some shrimp tacos for dinner. But I won't focus on those since the star of the evening was the Creamy Creole Stew. And when I say star, I mean, superstar. Like, this is the Beyoncé of stews.

Boyfriend's plate. He added salsa to his shrimp taco, which I made haphazardly on the side while he nailed the creole stew. 

I started cooking having no idea what was going to happen. I knew I was hungry. And I knew I was going to use shrimp. Outside of that, I just started cutting up vegetables hoping something would come to me.

But then boyfriend came in, and suggested I put the shrimp in a red sauce. I've never been big on shrimp in red sauce, so I was hesitant. But did it anyway. Then he suggested I add coconut milk. And also, sausage. And lots of random spices to make it a creole dish, like a jambalaya without the rice.

I was skeptical. Very skeptical. So I let him take over, and I went to make some shrimp tacos as a side dish.

Simple shrimp tacos with sautéed vegetables in a little lettuce blanket.  

After a few minutes, he shoved a spoon in my mouth. And I'm both proud and humbled to say I couldn't have come up with anything nearly as delicious. Success!!! My contribution was that it be served with zucchinoodles for some texture. Which also worked quite well.

I have to pick his brain about what seasoning he used exactly...I think there was some basil in there, red pepper flakes, paprika, cayenne ... and definitely a few bay leaves.

But it's really just a mixture of shrimp (cooked in olive oil, lemon juice, salted and peppered), onions, garlic, bell pepper, diced tomato, tomato sauce, coconut milk, and sausage.

Easy (once we figured out what we were making) and so delicious! Can't wait to try this again to record an actual recipe.

My plate. I put carrots on my taco, to match the color of the soup. These things are important.