This week’s Culinary SOS: Roberto’s gambas Mozambique

This week’s Culinary SOS request comes from Keith Johnson in Rancho Palos Verdes:

If I didn’t know how easy this dish was to make, I’d be planning a cross-country trip to Amelia Island too. Large shrimp are poached in a rich sauce flavored with garlic and spice, fresh lemon, coconut milk and a few dashes of hot sauce. Serve it with plenty of bread — as amazing as the shrimp are, you don’t want any of that sauce to go to waste.

And check out more Culinary SOS recipes. If you have a favorite restaurant recipe you’d like to request, email me. I’ll do my best to track it down.

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Roberto’s gambas Mozambique

Total time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2

Note: Adapted from España Restaurant on Amelia Island, Fla. The restaurant recommends serving this dish with your favorite bread.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 heaping teaspoons chopped garlic

1/4 cup diced onion

16 to 20 large shell-on shrimp (21- to 25-count per pound)

1/4 cup beer

1 teaspoon Sazon (also spelled Sason) with cilantro, a prepared Latin spice blend (a similar Latin spice blend may be substituted)

2 tablespoons butter

Tabasco, or another vinegar-based hot sauce, to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup coconut milk

Sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot and add the oil. Stir in the chopped garlic and diced onion and cook until aromatic, 1 to 1½ minutes. Stir in the shrimp, then add the beer, Sazon, butter, a few dashes of hot sauce (or to taste), lemon juice and coconut milk. Poach the shrimp in sauce, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes. Taste and season with a pinch of salt, or as desired. Divide the shrimp and sauce in two wide, shallow bowls, and sprinkle over the cilantro. Serve immediately.

Each serving: 576 calories; 31 grams protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 46 grams fat; 21 grams saturated fat; 303 mg cholesterol; 2 grams sugar; 1,924 mg sodium.