The richness of the tomato sauce blends so heavenly with the shrimp and feta in this recipe. I made my own tomato sauce in this recipe which takes about 25 mins to simmer but if you don’t have the prep time any great jarred sauce will work just reduce it in the skillet about 5 minutes and add the honey to it. You want a sauce that is on the thicken side not watery or runny.  Simmering for that 5 minutes will thicken the sauce and the honey will caramelize the shrimp just slightly. I used a cast iron skillet because I love the heat that it retains when roasting.  Finishing it under the broiler for just a couple of minutes is perfection.  Served with rice or pasta or even as an appetizer this is a terrific dish.

 

ingredients ~

  • 4 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 shallots diced (apx 2/3 c)
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 can 28 ounce whole tomatoes ( crush them with your hands don’t get the diced ones)
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 t Sous Salt Olive & Thyme
  • 1/4 t pepper
  • 1 t cumin
  • a pinch of red pepper flake (or more is you want it spicy)
  • 1 T honey
  • 6 ounces Feta (I love the Valbreso because it’s creamy and melts heavenly)
  • 3/4 t dried oregano (don’t use fresh here it doesn’t produce the aroma and flavor)
  • 1 – 1 1/2 lbs large shrimp deveined and peeled (apx 12- 15 a pound count)
  • 1 – 2 T of minced fresh parsley and thyme for a garnish

directions ~

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (convection oven) 425 (regular oven).

Add 3 T of the olive oil to the cast iron skillet and saute the diced shallots until translucent. Add the garlic and just cook for 1 minute so you don’t burn the garlic.  Then add the crushed tomatoes, the juice from the can, the cumin, red pepper flakes and the honey. Season with Sous Salt & pepper. Stir around to incorporate and add the thyme sprigs on top just nestle them down into the sauce. Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes until it thickens into a nice rich sauce and the water from the tomatoes evaporates. Take out the sprigs of thyme, they’ve done their job now.

Take a couple of tablespoons of the sauce and add it to the shrimp to coat them evenly.  Lay the shrimp in the skillet on top of the tomato sauce then crumble the feta on top of the shrimp pushing some of the pieces down into the sauce as well. Drizzle the remaining 1T of olive oil on the top of the shrimp and feta.

Bake them in the middle of the oven for 20 – 25 minutes. Finish them under the broiler for just a minute to brown and crisp the edges.

Sprinkle with 1 – 2 T of minced parsley and thyme mixture to finish.

Voila!