Recipe: Florida Gulf Shrimp Tacos from Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar

Turns out jerk-spiced shrimp paired with watermelon pico de gallo is a match made in heaven.

Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs is celebrating Flavors of Florida with a new dish: Florida Gulf Shrimp Tacos. These tacos are made with jerk-spiced shrimp and watermelon pico de gallo. They are served in a grilled corn tortilla and topped with sliced jalapeño. If you can’t make it to Jock Lindsey’s while this dish is on the menu, we’ve got you covered with an easy recipe to recreate it at home.

Shrimp Tacos with Watermelon Pico de Gallo

Yields 4 tacos

Ingredients:

Watermelon Pico de Gallo:

• 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced

• Lime juice from 1 lime

• ½ a bunch of cilantro, chopped

• ½ green bell pepper, finely diced

• ½ yellow bell pepper, finely diced

• ½ red bell pepper, finely diced

• ¼ red onion, finely diced

• ¼ small seedless watermelon, finely diced

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Jerk-Spiced Shrimp Tacos:

• 4 small tortilla shells

• 10 oz wild caught medium size raw frozen shrimp, defrosted

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon lime juice

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon honey

• 1 tablespoon ketchup

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon allspice

• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon thyme

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions:

Watermelon Pico de Gallo:

1. Start by chopping and finely dicing all of your ingredients.

2. Next, add all the chopped ingredients, lime juice and salt to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Shrimp Tacos:

1. To defrost the shrimp, add the frozen shrimp to a colander and submerge in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes is up, switch out the water and repeat for another 10 minutes. Repeat as necessary until the shrimp are thawed.

2. Prepare the marinade for the shrimp by adding olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, honey, ketchup, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, allspice, ground ginger, thyme, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a freezer bag or medium bowl.

3. Whisk to combine the marinade ingredients in a bag or bowl.

4. Add the thawed shrimp to the bag and make sure the pieces are coated in the marinade.

5. Allow the shrimp to marinate for 15-30 minutes at room temperature.

6. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a medium frying pan and heat to medium-high heat.

7. Pop your tortilla shells in the oven to warm them at the lowest heat setting (~170º for 10 minutes).

8. Once the pan is hot, add the shrimp in an even layer.

9. Cook for 3 minutes then use tongs to flip the shrimp over to the other side. Cook for another 3 minutes and then remove from the pan.

10. Remove your tortilla shells from the oven.

11. Build your tacos by placing a few pieces of shrimp on each tortilla shell, then topping each with a scoop of the watermelon pico.

Takeaway:

These tacos were so good and pretty easy to make! There wasn’t anything difficult about the recipe, it just took a while to chop up all of the ingredients for the pico de gallo. But in the end, it was definitely worth it for the flavor it added to the tacos! The jerk shrimp had a great flavor and the watermelon pico complimented it perfectly. The tacos were very light and refreshing. We used flour tortillas, but you could use corn tortillas instead, like the Jock Lindsey’s version does. We also skipped the sliced jalapeño topping on the tacos, but you can always add them in for an extra kick! If you have extra watermelon pico, you can also use it as a dip with tortilla chips!