Thursday, March 4, 2010

Shrimp Tourkolimano

Hooray, I did it! I made a quick week-night meal in approx. 30 minutes! I made this once before but had kind of forgotten about it until I was scouring my cookbooks for something fast and easy.

We received this lovely book Greektown Chicago: Its History and Its Recipes as a gift from my husband's brother and sister-in-law a couple of years ago. I swear by the Pastitsio recipe in it (but more on that later). Its a really fun book, loaded with old pics of Chicago's Greektown and recipes from the Greektown restaurants as well as from local Chicago Greek-Americans. I look forward to sharing this book with my children someday.

So this recipe, called Shrimp Tourkolimano (which according to the book means "Turkish harbor, named for the place where the Greeks arrived upon their exodus from that region, at the port of Piraeus) is full of traditional Greek flavors - olive oil, tomato, feta. My husband and I tasted something sort of like this while we were in Greece last time.

Shrimp Tourkolimano
from Greektown Chicago, serves 4

Ingredients
1 lb shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Spanish onions, chopped
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (I used diced from the can since it's the dead of winter and the tomatoes suck right now!)
1/4 cup tomato puree (I had used about a 1/2 can of tomato paste I had leftover mixed with a a little water)
6 oz crumbled Feta cheese
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to broil. Meanwhile, saute the garlic, green and Spanish onions in olive oil until lightly brown (about 10 minutes). Add the tomato puree and chopped tomatoes and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add the water, salt and pepper, and boil for 10 minutes.

Add the shrimp to the pan with the tomato mixture and boil for 3 to 4 minutes (do not fully cook as they will finish cooking in the oven and you don't want them to overcook). Transfer to a small, shallow baking pan and top with the crumbled Feta. Broil for about 10 minutes, or until the Feta begins to melt and brown.





I served this with some plain Greek white rice and a green salad. It is also wonderful with crusty bread to scoop up all the yummy sauce. (However, I had a fallible moment yesterday and a complete bread making FAIL - more on that later, I'm attempting a second try either today or tomorrow).

You, too, can enjoy the flavors of Greece in your kitchen tonight!

4 comments:

Julia said...

Oh please, oh please--please share the pastitsio recipe! :)

Elaine said...

If I come visit you will you PUHLEEZE make this for me?!

Emily Y. said...

Elaine - of course I will make it for you!

Julia - pastitsio recipe forthcoming! :)

Suzanne said...

umm...yes please.