Shrimp Saganaki Recipe

Saganaki refers to a number of Greek dishes cooked in a small frying pan including cheese saganaki, meatball saganaki, fish saganaki, and so on. This is a recipe for shrimp saganaki, a dish I tried for the first time in the idyllic Cyclades island of Paros. It is full of flavour - sharp tomatoes, tangy feta, aniseed from the Ouzo and the all-important shrimp, curled up in the pan like little golden treasures from the sea.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

300g fresh shrimp (100g/4-5 shrimps per person)

8-10 cherry tomatoes

1 small onion (diced)

2 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)

1 tsp tomato paste

1 shot of Ouzo or glass of white wine

1/2 tsp paprika

50g Feta

Handful of fresh parsley

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preparation (20min)

1. Peel and devein all the shrimp (instructions below). Rinse thoroughly and pat dry.

2. In a frying pan on high heat, sear the shrimp on both sides in a little olive oil being careful not to cook through (30-60sec). Set shrimp aside.

3. Turn the pan down to medium-high and fry the onions, tomatoes and garlic until soft. Add the tomato paste and paprika, then the Ouzo or white wine and let the alcohol cook off. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add the shrimp and cover. Leave to cook for 3-4min until shrimps are cooked through. Add the crumbled feta and parsley and cover for a further 30sec. Serve immediately.

Peeling and deveining fresh shrimp: Hold the shrimp by the tail in one hand and gently twist the head off with the other. Don't be alarmed at the orangey gunk that comes out - this will be washed off later. Peel back the legs and the shell one by one finishing with the tail (optional: leave the tail on). To devein, use a sharp knife to make a small slit the length of the spine and remove the brown tube-like vein. Rinse the shrimp thoroughly.

TIP 1: When cooking with seafood it is very important to avoid cross-contamination. Always prepare the seafood separately from other ingredients and wash utensils and surfaces immediately after using. You can also use a bowl to set aside waste in order to avoid walks across the kitchen.

TIP 2: Set aside shrimp heads and shell to make a simple stock. This is great for adding depth of flavour to any seafood dish.

TIP 3: Remove some of the acidity from the tomato sauce by adding a drop of milk during cooking.