Young & Hungry

Who doesn’t love a good dinner party?  I heart them and was in the good habit of throwing them until our last, which became slightly overwhelming when we found 20 hungry guests hanging out in the kitchen while I fumbled with rice cookers that were not working and ginormous pots that I could barely lift.  Nonetheless, fun it was.  They typically are and luckily, there was more than enough wine to pacify all until dinner was served. 

 

Since that night last summer, the dinner parties have been few and far between, but hopefully, that will soon change.  I recently had a few friends over and served the following, finding it to be a nice, simple dish for entertaining. 

 

The inspiration for this recipe came from a Bon Appetit Mediterranean magazine special from many years ago.  So long ago, in fact, that I originally made it with my Mom.  As such, I did not have access to the actual recipe so I spent some time googling (they should really make that a word) various combinations of key words and came up with the following.  A couple nights ago, my Mom found the recipe and we made it for Mother’s Day.  The main differences included fewer diced tomatoes, the addition of Kalamata olives, which I had meant to include, and the use of ouzo to flambe the shrimp.  She declared it a favorite; hopefully you will too!

   

 Grecian Shrimp

Serves 4

-          3 T olive oil

-          1 large yellow onion (chopped)

-          2 cloves garlic (chopped)

-          1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

-     1/2 t hot pepper flakes (opt)

-          1/2 t dried oregano

-          Salt & Pepper (to taste)

-          ½ lemon (juiced)

-          ½ cup white wine (¼ cup brandy or ouzo –  from original recipe)

-          1 lb shrimp (shells removed, tails on)

-          ¼ cup Kalamata olives or capers (chopped) – from original recipe

-          1 cup feta cheese (crumbled)

-          ½ cup parsley finely chopped

   

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Sauté the onions in 2 T olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes before mixing in tomatoes and oregano. 

 

In a separate pan heat another tablespoon of olive oil and sauté shrimp seasoned with S&P for a NY minute (sorry I’m planning a trip, so it’s on the mind).  Add wine & lemon juice and cook for another couple minutes.  Here is where I opted out of the fun part for lack of ouzo or brandy…  If you have ouzo, you can flambé the shrimp aka light them on fire pyromaniac!  To do this you should remove the shrimp from the heat after adding the liquor, light the liquor, and let the flames burn out.  I do not have good luck with flames in the kitchen and do not consider fires good party etiquette thus I went the wine route.  In a second attempt, I tried using brandy with parental supervision, but we couldn’t get it to ignite… Perhaps ouzo really does have higher alcohol content?!  Opa!

 

Finally, top shrimp with tomato mixture, incorporate parsley, feta, and olives and bake at 400 for 5-10 minutes.  To serve, ladle over slices of toasted baguette topped with olive oil and garlic.  Alternatively, you can make a side of orzo risotto (recipe to follow) or my favorite brown short grain rice.