What's For Dinner Wednesday: Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Baked Shrimp

Every couple of weeks my girlfriends and I try to get together for a weeknight girls' dinner. It's a nice time to catch up with each other (without the boys around) and wind down after the workday is over. Sometimes we meet up at a restaurant we've been wanting to try (like our dinner at GT Fish & Oyster), but lately we have been opting to save some money and take turns hosting at our homes instead. I hosted our most recent dinner-- and it was the first at our new place!

 

One of the things that I love about hosting dinner for my girlfriends is that I get to serve meals that I rarely get a chance to make because of Alex's food allergies or preferences. I love my husband dearly, but sometimes I would really just like to make shrimp and Brussels sprouts for dinner without complaints or fear of anaphylactic shock. So, that's exactly what I did for this girls' night!

I knew I wanted to make shrimp, but because it cooks so quickly you have to time it just right when entertaining. This dish was perfect because I could assemble the entire thing and then since it only takes about 15 minutes to cook, I popped it in the oven when the girls arrived so that it cooked while we poured the wine and settled in for dinner.

This shrimp dish was inspired by one that I tried at Greek Islands in Chicago's Greektown neighborhood. I had this delicious shrimp that was baked in a tomato sauce and topped with feta. It was so simple and flavorful that I have been dying to recreate it. Well, I recently won a recipe contest and now have a pantry full of sun dried tomato products, so I figured that this would be the perfect way to put those ingredients to work together!

The flavors here work so well together-- tangy sun dried tomatoes, bright fresh herbs, salty feta, and dry white wine and lemon, which are the perfect compliments to fresh shrimp. It's part Greek Islands shrimp, part shrimp scampi, and it's just really fresh and flavorful. I can't even tell you how simple this dish is to assemble and it looks so pretty. It is the perfect impressive dish for entertaining that requires pretty minimal prep and cook time. Give it a try the next time you're entertaining and let me know what you think!


Ingredients:

• 1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
• 8.5 oz jar julienne cut sun dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 Tbs. fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbs. fresh oregano, chopped
• 2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 oz. feta, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse shrimp, pat dry, and add to a large glass bowl. Carefully drain the oil out of the tomato jar and pour over shrimp. Reserve tomatoes for later.

To the bowl, add wine, lemon juice, additional olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Arrange shrimp evenly in a baking dish. I used a ceramic pie plate (with higher edges) and arranged the shrimp in concentric rings, overlapping slightly with the tails up. Pour the remaining liquid from the bowl over the top of the shrimp.

In a separate bowl, combine the sun dried tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spoon evenly over the top of the shrimp so that it is totally covered.

Bake for 6 minutes and then remove from oven. Crumble the feta evenly over the top of the tomato layer and bake for an additional 8 minutes until the shrimp is pink and cooked through and the cheese melts slightly.

Optional: Broil for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.

Serve hot over rice or orzo.