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Conventional cooking wisdom says that you should never pair seafood with cheese.
The one glaring example of where this convention does not hold true, and in fact begs to be broken, is with a classic Greek dish called shrimp saganaki or shrimp santorini. It pairs shrimp with tomatoes and feta cheese and is absolutely delicious in every rule-breaking way.
We found a beautiful example of this classic dish in a recipe by Ellie Krieger in a publication by Fine Cooking several years ago.
You make a quick and easy tomato sauce on the stovetop with onions, garlic, and tomatoes, then add shrimp and feta and plop it in the oven to bake. Easy!
Now my father will be the first to tell you that he doesn’t like shrimp. Most shrimp recipes I propose are usually met with that reminder and a change of subject. But this one seemed so intriguing, we had to make it.
We tried it early one afternoon so we could get good light for a photograph, and then had to taste it.
We kept tasting it, and tasting it, and then we had to call my mother over because we were well on our way to eating the whole pan.
The only thing I wish we had at the time was some crusty Italian bread to dip in the sauce.
Baked Shrimp in Tomato Feta Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 to 1 1/4 pounds medium sized raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can leave tails on), thaw if frozen
- Pinch of salt, more to taste
- Pinch black pepper, more to taste
- 3 ounces feta cheese (about 2/3 cup, crumbled)
Method
1 Preheat oven to 425°F.
2 Sauté onions and garlic: Coat the bottom of a large, oven-proof skillet with oil and heat it on medium high heat. Stir in the onions and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.
3 Add tomatoes, simmer: Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, reduce heat and let simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the juices thicken up a bit.
4 Add feta, shrimp, herbs, put in oven and bake: Remove from heat. Stir in the herbs, shrimp, feta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Place pan in oven and bake, uncovered, until shrimp are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.
Serve immediately. Serve with crusty French or Italian loaf bread, pasta, or rice.
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Recipe barely adapted from Eat Smart by Taunton Press Fine Cooking.
Links:
Shrimp Scampi here on Simply Recipes
Baked Shrimp with Tomatillos here on Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Baked Shrimp in Tomato Feta Sauce
You unnecessarily waste energy using the oven. The same delicious results can be realized by simply lowering the heat to medium low after cooking the tomato mixture to thicken, adding the shrimp and cover for 4-5 minutes. turn of the heat, add the Feta and recover for 5 minutes to heat the cheese. Same result with less energy expenditure and quicker results. Please send no money,a simple thanks is sufficient…… chuckle.
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Made this tonight. I added a 1/4 cup of white wine to the sauce though before I baked it . Served it with riced cauliflower. It was delicious . Great recipe
This is one of my favorite shrimp recipes. After reading other recipes, I added 1/2 cup of diced roasted red peppers. Might add more next time. Added a nice sweetness. Great recipe.
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We love this recipe, thank you! I use only on can of tomatoes and usually add several cups of fresh diced tomatoes, just cooking on the stovetop. We serve it over zucchini noodles..yum!
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I made this last night with a few tweaks just to suit my personal taste. I tripled the garlic, left out the dill, and added some red pepper flakes and castelvetrano olives. I served it with saffron risotto. I did it on the stovetop but that’s only because I forgot to turn the oven on, but it worked out just fine. It was really good, and I would definitely make it again. Thanks!