Bacon Wrapped Shrimp in a Spicy Papaya Salad

I was experimenting in the kitchen the other day and came up with winner- Bacon Wrapped Shrimp in a Spicy Papaya Salad. The sweetness of the papaya is balanced out by the spicy chili peppers and the savory bacon wrapped shrimp ties everything together. This dish offers a variety of flavors as well as textures. Hope you enjoy!

(Serves 2, or 1 if you're like me)

Ingredients:
· ½ lb Medium Shrimp (about 14-20 pieces)
· 7-10 Strips of Bacon (half as many as you have shrimp)
· 1 Ripe Papaya
· 1 Serrano Pepper
· 1 ½ Limes
· 2 Carrots
· 4 oz of Baby Spinach
· 1 tsp Cumin
· Salt-n-Pepa for seasoning
· Toothpicks

Directions:
Papaya Salsa:
Peel and seed the papaya & dice it into small cubes. Very very thinly dice the Serrano peppers into small pieces and add to the papaya. Add lime juice and zest, cumin & Salt-n-Pepa to the papaya mixture.

Tip: Cutting, peeling & dicing papaya

Use a regular vegetable peeler to peel the skin of the papaya. Cut the entire thing in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Slice the papaya lengthwise into long strips and then widthwise to create dices.

The Serrano peppers should be diced very small (you don’t want to bite into a big chunk of one of those)

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp:
Peel and devein the shrimp & season them with ½ the cumin & Salt-n-Pepa.
Cut the bacon strips in half and cook them partway in a skillet. Drain the excess fat from the pan and degrease the bacon on paper towels. Take the bacon and wrap each strip around the shrimp, securing the whole thing with a toothpick.

(Since the bacon takes longer to cook than the shrimp, the idea here is to cook the bacon partway before wrapping it. This way, when the bacon cooks with the shrimp later, both the bacon and shrimp finish cooking at the same time and the shrimp doesn’t overcook).

Once all the shrimps are wrapped, place them back in the skillet and cover with a lid. Turn the shrimp midway through the cooking and turn off the heat once finished cooking.

Assembling the Salad:
Shred the carrots and toss in a bowl with the clean spinach. Mix in the papaya salsa & top with the bacon wrapped shrimp (be sure to remove the toothpicks before serving). This salad can be served either plain or with a vinaigrette dressing.