Another workhorse of a recipe comin’ at ya! When a recipe has three ingredients, I choose it because I’m looking for something that’s passably tasty and super easy to throw together after work. I’m not expecting anything magical to transpire on my dinner plate. But apparently the cosmos sometimes align and mixing three simple things together makes a dinner that leaves you speechless and questioning every single thing you thought you knew – I’m only exaggerating slightly. Get ready for this Greek baked shrimp to blow your mind.
I’d call this recipe a standby in my kitchen – part of a very exclusive club consisting of only a handful of stalwarts that meet strict criteria. Entry doesn’t happen very often, and sometimes it’s when I least expect it. I’d flagged this recipe in The Country Cooking of Greece, an excellent cookbook that’s been responsible for a number of real winners in the kitchen, as something that would be easy enough to put together after work and perfect for a summer evening with a glass of crisp white wine and a freshly baked baguette or pita. A few ripe summer tomatoes, a block of feta, and a bag of pre-cleaned shrimp (I really spoiled myself) and I was celebrating a summer weekday in style, and this recipe has not let me down since that initial discovery.
This is truly one of the best things about Mediterranean cooking – that simple and rustic can be elevated into something much finer than the sum of its parts. As much as I love eating this on a Tuesday night in, I wouldn’t hesitate to serve this in a beautiful bowl to a table of dinner party guests. I’d encourage everyone to eat it the way we do a pot of mussels – another simple, rustic and somehow elegant dish: with their hands, and using torn pieces of crusty bread to make sure they don’t miss out on any of the good stuff, the sauce.
I have to say, it’s been an odd lead-up to summer here on the east coast. While we had another mild winter (which I always appreciate), it’s been a remarkably cool and rainy spring. In fact, this past weekend was one of the first that was warm enough to sit outside on our terrace, let alone entertain on it. I have one last pre-surgery feast planned in early June to see some friendly faces before dropping off the social circuit for awhile. I’m thinking of making this shrimp – and I’m not going to mention how easy it was.
Ingredients
- 2 lb. large shrimp, with their shells on
- 12 cups water
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 5 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for greasing the pan
- 3 large firm, ripe tomatoes, grated (which removes the skin)
- 1 scant teaspoon sugar
- Salt and pepper
- 8 oz. Greek feta cheese, crumbled
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Wash and drain the shrimp. Pour the water and vinegar into a medium pot, bring to a rolling boil and blanch the shrimp for 1 minute. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon. Discard the water. Cool the shrimp slightly and remove their heads and shells, leaving the tails intact.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan and add the tomatoes. Add the sugar and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to very low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a glass baking dish large enough to hold the shrimp in one layer. Place the shrimp in neat rows in the baking dish, fitting them snugly next to one another. Sprinkle half the feta over them. Pour the sauce over the shrimp and sprinkle with the remaining feta. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or just until the feta begins to melt. Remove, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.
Notes
https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2017/05/17/shrimp-baked-with-feta-garides-me-feta/
