shrimp w/ feta......

I found a simply lovely recipe yesterday that I had to give a try. As Ray can attest, my easiest quick meal standby is a quick skillet shrimp scampi with frozen french fries. While it is one of my favorites, I happened to find a different twist on the shrimp.....

If you haven't noticed, I've become what is known in the blogging world...A FOODIE. I have about 15 food blogs bookmarked....some even double bookmarked when there is a particular recipe that I like....! One of the blogs is based out of Minneapolis, one is a married couple who both are food scientists, another is a Greek gentleman who lives in NY, (and has instruction on how to make your OWN phyllo dough!) another is an Irishman, who I think lives in Ireland....A lady who lives in the Netherlands... Oklahoma....Washington State....you get the picture....

And the fun thing is that one blog that you find will normally have listed about 20 OTHER blogs to explore! Oh, HOW I can waste time! Well, I have to point you to one that I found... and you gotta love the name...

The Traveler's Lunchbox! Isn't that just perfect for me??? Too bad that I didn't think of it for myself!

Well, I digress.....here was the base recipe that I found and had to alter it as I don't have, nor do I buy, whole, shell on prawns. Yikes. Too exotic for us along with being too hard to eat...well, maybe not hard, but shells and juice flying while you are eating really isn't up our alley...especially at home where I have to clean it up! (normally, we cook our shrimp totally naked of shell....but we kept the tails on for this one...)

http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2005/7/26/prawns-with-chili-and-feta-or-youd-have-done-the-same.htmlHere's their photo of the meal. As you scroll down this link, you'll find the recipe. Here's how I altered it:

I put some mild hot sauces (about 3 TBSP or so) into my melted Smart Balance (about 2-3 TBSP) along with the garlic (3 larger cloves). Heated that up and then put in my shelled & deveined, tail on shrimp.....21-30 count, I believe. I used 14-16 of them as that comes out to 2 servings. I put the defrosted shrimp into the skillet & tossed. Then H pointed out to me that I did not put my french fries into the oven...that should be 30 min or so for them to cook! YIKES! My shrimp would be rubber if I continued to cook them so I just took them off the burner and let them rest/marinate in the lovely buttery, spicy mixture. When the french fries were about done, I returned them to a low heat and tossed. Just as they were done cooking (opaque, not translucent) I added the feta cheese (about 2 oz or so) & cilantro. (you can use parsley) I lidded it and after about a minute, I turned the gas off. Let it rest while i plated the fries & readied the lemon for the topper. I plated and then added the lemon juice. (we are hesitant to add anything acid to cast iron cookware as it can bring out the metal taste.)

Talk about to die for!! YUMMY! Since it was supposed to be a casual meal, we drank our beers, but it would go superbly with a nice wine. Oh, and by the way, with the mild hot sauces that I used...none of it came thru....you could taste them, but the feta calmed down any heat that was there..so it was not hot or spicy at all!

This would work well with 51-60 or even popcorn shrimp, which is less expensive and it would be more of a fork meal instead of a finger meal...... Also, there is a nice sauce that is created with the Smart Balance & feta that this would be awesome over some light pasta, such as angel hair or thin spaghetti!

Hope you get a chance to enjoy it as much as we did....or come on down and we'll make it for you!!