Shrimp in a Feta Tomato Sauce

Before I begin, I want to let you know that I have added a Picture Albums of 2013 to the left of the page where I will continue to upload pictures of our outings. I am slightly behind (in 2012), so please be patient :-/

Last Monday, I had defrosted some shrimp to make "some" meal. I didn't know what recipe I was going to use it for, but I have kinda become queen of trying searching for trying AND searching for new recipes. So I began looking for a shrimp recipe that wasn't Asian inspired and could possibly also use Ro-tel. I had a few cans of Rotel in the pantry... Rotel is a prized possession in Aberdeen!! One can costs about $3.

After finding a recipe that looked "interesting" enough to try, I realized that I did not have all of the necessary ingredients needed. Instead of walking to the grocery store in the rain, I decided to make my Chicken Salad that Luke LOVES and save the shrimp for later. Usually Luke gets to eat ALL the leftovers for every meal because he takes them to work, but I always eat most of the chicken salad on sandwiches during the day leaving him with only getting to eat two Luke-sized servings.

<picture pouty Luke face here>

While putting together the chicken salad, Luke calls and says dinners plans have been made with friends. Not too big of a deal since it is just chicken salad, and chicken salad is ALWAYS best when its been in the fridge for a day. So we ate that for dinner Tuesday night.

Wednesday rolls around... Ash Wednesday might I add... which was a perfect day to try this shrimp recipe. I had gone to the grocery store Tuesday, so I had almost everything needed for the recipe. I didn't pick up a few ingredients because I wanted to experiment a little. It was already an interesting recipe, I might as well put my own flare on it, right? Luke was also leaving for London that evening, so if the recipe went wrong, he wouldn't be forced to "like" it. Well, I totally shocked myself because it ended up being DELICIOUS! A little spicy, but delicious! So here is my recipe:

Luke: "This is REALLY REALLY REALLY good! It reminds me of cajun food." Yes!!!!

Shrimp in a Feta Tomato Sauce

Working time: 15-20 minutes

Total Time: 30-40 minutes

Servings: 4 (if serving over noodles)

Adapted from Simply Recipes

INGREDIENTS:

-1 tbsp Olive Oil

-1 medium yellow onion, chopped

-0.5 tsp crushed red peppers

-3 garlic cloves, minced

-1 diced tomato

-1 can mild rotel

-1.5 cups plain pasta sauce

-1 tbsp dried parsley

-1 tsp dried dill

-1.5 pounds thawed large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

-salt to taste (approx. 1 tsp)

-pepper to taste (approx 1 tsp)

-7 ounces crumbled feta cheese

-pasta noodles (1 serving per person)

METHOD:

1.) Preheat oven to 425°F. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in crushed red pepper. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15-30 seconds (do not let the garlic burn or you will get a bitter taste).

2.) Stir in the Rotel, pasta sauce and diced tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the sauce is cooking, begin to prepare the pasta noodles (unless you are doing a large pot of noodles, then you will need more time to boil the water).

3.) Remove from heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, shrimp and feta. Transfer to a baking pan (or keep in skillet if your skillet is ovenproof) and bake until shrimp are cooked through, about 12-16 minutes (stirring once or twice to ensure all shrimp are cooking evenly).

4.) Pour shrimp and sauce over noodles and serve immediately. 

I did not take any pictures as I was preparing the dish because I was so nervous about it. I thought the mixture of ingredients in the original recipe sounded weird together, so I didn't think it would be worth sharing. It ended up being such an easy recipe to make! I highly recommend adding this recipe to your "Lent Friday" list. I guarantee it will end up on your year round list!

**This made enough for me to have over noodles once, and Luke to eat with nothing once. If serving over noodles, it should be enough for four people.

**If you think the Rotel and/or crushed red pepper will be too spicy, I recommend using the original recipe. I used the Rotel to add spice. I chose to use one can plus pasta sauce and tomatoes (instead of two cans of Rotel) because I didn't want the dish to have a Mexican taste to it.

RANDOM FACT:

Ro-Tel was invented in 1943 in Elsa, Texas by a man named Carl Roettele. Cans of Hot and Mild were added to the line in 1998.

-Debbie-

Today, I have linked up with Alissa at 33 Shades of Green for Tasty Tuesday!