Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

Being an avid home cook, I don’t mind recipes that are complicated. I get wary about recipes in cookbooks, magazines and on fellow bloggers’ sites that have the words “easy” or “20-minute” or “5-ingredient” in the name of the dish. Is what makes these dishes special their convenience and speed of preparation alone? So much of the time, these recipes call for shortcuts that detract from the quality of the final product, cutting out steps that I, at least, am happy to do, especially if it means a better result. So, all of this is to say that I like recipes for the food they produce, not how easy they are to make.

With that said, this recipe for garides saganaki, a light but intensely flavorful Greek dish of sauteed shrimp in spicy tomato sauce with feta cheese, was incredibly quick and easy. It came together in about half an hour but was just as tasty as some dishes I’ve made where I had to slave in the kitchen for half a day. True, there are more complicated versions of this dish, calling for additions like oregano, mint,  lemon, white wine, or ouzo, which I don’t doubt would play well with the other Mediterranean flavors here. But, if you’re looking for a quick meal with under 10 ingredients, definitely give this one a try.

Garides Saganaki (Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta)

Total Time: 25 min.

Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ½ medium jalapeno chile, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1  14.5-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed by hand
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds large  shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 oz. feta, coarsely crumbled
• 1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley

Method

• Heat broiler to high. Heat oil in a heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and chile, and cook, stirring often, until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, and season to taste with salt and pepper; cook until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes
• Arrange shrimp in single layer in skillet and simmer until shrimp are pink and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Scatter feta over shrimp, then transfer skillet to broiler, and broil until feta begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet, garnish with parsley, and serve

Shakshuka (Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta)

I love poached eggs. If they’re made just right, so that they yolk isn’t hard-cooked yet, but isn’t too runny either, if it offers up that perfectly viscous golden lava-flow at the probe of a fork, a humble poached egg (sopped up with some bread, and maybe with a side of bacon) is hard to beat. But sometimes I get frustrated that the noble egg is so often limited to breakfast and brunch within the American culinary ethos, especially when short order cooks across the country routinely serve up dry, rubbery scrambled eggs and ridiculously over-stuffed omelets. And sure, deviled eggs make an occasional appearance at a cocktail party, but I’d like to see us take a lesson from the French (who I hear know a thing or two about food) and start putting more eggs on the lunch and dinner menu.

To that end, I decided recently to try out a version of shakshuka, a more interesting looking Israeli take on eggs in purgatory. Essentially, a thick sauce made from onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, chickpeas and spices is simmered in a large skillet. Eggs are cracked into wells in this sauce that will now act as a poaching liquid and the whole dish is sprinkled with feta cheese before being popped into an oven just until the eggs set. Once the yolks are just the way you like them, remove the skillet, sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve with lots of bread to soak up this amazing, flavorful sauce.

Adapted from a recipe by Bon Appetit

Total Cooking Time: 35 min.

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 2 jalapeños, seeded, finely chopped
• 1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained
• 1 tsp. Hungarian sweet paprika
• 1 tsp. hot smoked paprika
• 1 T. harissa
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup coarsely crumbled feta
• 8 large eggs
• 1 T. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 T. chopped fresh cilantro
• Warm bread/lavash/pita for serving

Method

• Preheat oven to 425°. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeños; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add chickpeas, paprikas, harissa, and cumin and cook for 2 minutes longer.
  
• Add crushed tomatoes and their juices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta evenly over sauce.

• Crack eggs one at a time and place over sauce, spacing evenly apart. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 5–8 minutes. Garnish with parsley and cilantro. Serve with bread/lavash/pita for dipping.