Quick Shrimp with Lemon & Feta.
In fact, this recipe is so fast and easy to prepare, it you can probably cook it in less time than it takes you to read this recipe.
One of the great things about having this blog/website is that it pushes me to try new things even when I don’t want to.
It is well documented (and the evidence is literally all around me) that I have a pretty ridiculous cookbook collection. Even with all those resources close at hand, it’s easy to get into a rut and cook the same things you cook all the time, over and over again. Of course there are favorites, but sometimes when you’re tired and hungry, you just don’t want to be creative or think of something new.
This dinner happened on a weeknight in a crazy busy week when I had absolutely nothing planned for dinner other than some shrimp that I had taken out of the freezer earlier in the day. They were nice big, pink Key West shrimp so I didn’t want to just dump them in a soup. Jim suggested a salad, I suggested pasta, Jim suggested risotto, I suggested shrimp thermador, Jim suggested I was crazy, I suggested he pour me a glass of wine…
You can see how this exercise was not getting us any closer to eating dinner. Happily, one of my favorite cookbooks
This recipe delivers on all those and more. Plus it has magic sauce…
Here’s what you need:
Shirmp, Garlic, Capers, Lemon, Fresh Basil, Feta Cheese, Olive Oil, and Black Pepper.
Click here for a Quick Shrimp with Lemon & Feta Shopping List
Decide what else you’re having for dinner and get it going before you make this. I’m serious. This recipe just takes a few minutes to cook.
Finely chop 3 large cloves of garlic and chop 2-3 Tablespoons of fresh basil.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of good olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and cook 1 minute, just until the garlic sizzles. Do not let the garlic brown.
Add 1 pound of large shrimp that have been peeled and de-veined. This is a recipe where it’s worth it to spring for the nice big shrimp.
Add 2 Tablespoons of capers that have been drained and 1/3 cup of crumbled feta cheese.
Squeeze in the juice of ½ a lemon and season with freshly ground black pepper. For me the feta is salty enough but if you’d like, you can always add a bit of salt.
I know it seems odd to just dump all these things together rather than cooking the shrimp first, but that’s the magic of this dish.
Cook and stir over medium heat until the shrimp turn vibrant pink and the edges just start to curl. The cheese will melt and thicken the sauce.
All of this takes 2 or 3 minutes tops.
Add the chopped fresh basil and stir to combine.
That’s it!
Taste and season with salt, pepper, and more lemon if you’d like.
Serve the shrimp and the luscious lemony sauce alone or with a side of rice or pasta. You could easily keep up the Greek style theme with a side of orzo.
I skipped the carbs and made some quick glazed carrots (cut the carrots extra small so they cook faster) and some oven-roasted broccoli. If you have it, a little crusty bread to sop up that sauce would be a nice addition.
Quick Shrimp with Lemon & Feta is what you need to make when you’re standing around your kitchen, staring blankly into the cabinets or refrigerator, totally at a loss.
Fast, easy, and delicious.
Here’s the recipe: Adapted from Melissa Clark’s In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite
13 Responses
Drooling at the computer here! I might need to pick up some shrimp on the way home. 🙂
OH, I have bread….! I love shrimp and this looks tatsy.
tasty…
jerry made this for supper tonight–it’s yummy! thanks!
The only thing better than this quick tasty dish is getting someone else to make it for you! Glad you liked it.
Claudia, this looks DELICIOUS and FAST–a great combination. Unfortunately, my basil plants bit the dust during the last cold snap. Lacking fresh basil, what about using a tablespoon of pesto? I almost always have some in the fridge. Could it sub for some of the olive oil, garlic, and basil?
Mine died too. I just bought 2 more at the store this week to replace them. For this recipe, I bought the little bag of basil leaves at Publix but I think a bit of pesto would be fine. Maybe top it off with some chopped parsley for extra green.
Great idea! My parsley plants, Italian flat-leaf and curly, are bushy and gloriously healthy. I’m going to make this tonight. Thanks for another excellent recipe.
It was terrific! Jack asked me to be sure to let you know. By the way, as we were cleaning up after dinner, a small, gray cat from somewhere in the neighborhood pressed its face against the glass of our kitchen door. It looked hopeful and was very persistent, but we remained unmoved. I think it must have been drawn there by the aromas of garlic and shrimp wafting out the kitchen window . . .
Count on me to provide recipes that lure the neighborhood cats to your door!
This looks amazing. I think I can do it. Wait, can I skip the capers??? I promise, I’ll add more wine.
XO
feel free to skip the capers. I’m guessing they are too much like olives for you. 🙂
I made this tonight…so fast, easy & yummy…thanks! I’ll definitely make it again, as it has less than ten ingredients and took less than ten minutes. Next time I may try the pesto idea, as I’ve always got some in the freezer. 🙂