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
Noodle Therapy 