Greek(ish) Baked Shrimp, for the sour lover!

Greek(ish) Baked Shrimp

When I have a craving for sour, I pull out the pepperoncini and eat a few, right out of the jar.  If that doesn’t satisfy my need for acid, I make this dish.  Each time I make it I’ve added a new component and now it’s a great way to clean out the refrigerator of a bunch of pickled jarred items.  Tastes great too!

Ingredients:

• 4 Tablespoons, Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 Tomatoes, cored, cut into large dice
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 mild roasted red pepper (I used fresh, but jarred is fine), diced
• 10 Kalmata Olives, coarsely chopped
• 3 Tablespoons Capers, rinsed
• 3 Pepperoncini peppers, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of Threbe (Wild Greek Oregano)*
• ½ Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb peeled, deveined raw shrimp
• 8 oz. Greek Sheep milk Feta cheese, diced
• 1 lemon, cut into supremes, broken into bits**

Method:

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, add 3 Tablespoons of the Olive Oil.  Use the remaining Tablespoon of Olive Oil to oil the inside of a 9 x 12 baking dish.  Preheat the oven to 400F.

Cook the onion in the oil until it becomes softened (5 minutes).  Keep the heat down low, you don’t want any browning.  Add the Tomatoes and garlic.  Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes begin to soften and the garlic is fragrant.

Add the red pepper, olives, capers, pepperoncini, Threbe and pepper.  Mix well.  Turn off the heat.  Fold in the shrimp, turning gently to coat the shrimp in the vegetable mix.  Pour this into your greased baking dish.

Sprinkle the diced feta over the top.  Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove when the shrimp are just turning pink, do not overcook your shrimp!  For a little more browning on top and to char the tips of the Feta, heat it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.

Sprinkle the lemon bits over the whole dish.

Serve with potatoes or over rice or with bread for dipping into the amazing sauce at the bottom of the dish!

Enjoy!

*Wild Greek Oregano is a different plant than Mexican or European oregano.  It has a light herbaceous scent that is a secret ingredient to making things taste VERY GREEK!

**Citrus Supremes: A fancy chef way of cutting up a piece of citrus so you only have the citrus segments, without  peel, seeds, or membrane.  Cut the top and bottom off of the fruit.  Stand it on one of the flat ends.  Using downward slices around the fruit to carve away, not only the peel off the fruit, but the membrane as well; exposing just meat of each segment all the way around.  Trim it up a bit, removing ALL pith.  Now use your knife to remove each juicy segment.  Remove the seeds.  Those are citrus supremes that are left.  Takes practice. J