Greek Shrimp Tapas Dish

So I was watching Bobby Flay (if you've seen my husband, you might understand my 'type' and why I am drawn to Flay...ha!) and he was doing a version of this dish and I couldn't grab a pen and paper quick enough to jot some notes. So while I made a few changes, I stayed pretty close and thus, credit to the Irish guy from NY for sure.

First things first, take some grape or cherry tomatoes and place them on skewers to go on the grill. (Remember to soak the skewers in water if they're wooden for at least 30 minutes before loading them with anything and putting them on the grill!) So put the tomatoes on the grill for about 2 minutes each side or until the outside is charred and the insides are warm and bubbly.

Next, take a large saucepan and get it HOT. Once it is is ready, reduce the heat to medium and add olive oil, one diced shallot, a little white wine and one diced head of garlic. After that softens a little,  remove the tomatoes from the skewers and place them in. Using a wooden spoon, you want to sort of smush the tomatoes down so that they break up a little and start to really cook.

Meanwhile, you want to take the clean and deveined shrimp (I used medium sized, frozen ones because I live in a fish-less state) and load them onto some skewers. I removed the tails as well at this point since I think its easier than doing so when they are hot off the grate. You want to cook the shrimp skewers for a few minutes each side until they start to pink. Don't cook them all the way on the grill.

Now, as the tomatoes stew away, you want to add in some key ingredients - none of which I measured admittedly, so I urge you to use good judgement and follow my eyeballing advice! Start with some paprika (a few shakes), some crushed red pepper (be wary, the spice is not meant to take over), some ground cinnamon (be generous), oregano (generous again) and some mint (if it is fresh, use less - if it is jarred, more).

When your shrimp are done, pull them from the skewers and toss them in too and reduce the heat to low. Then you want to take a lemon and zest the entire outside and then squeeze all the juice into your mixture. Keep stirring this for a few minutes and feel free to taste and add any spices you feel might not be represented. Ideally, you want to taste almost everything that went into this - which sounds crazy, but its deliciously true.

Lastly, you top the entire dish with a healthy dose of feta. To serve with the tapas, I took some whole wheat flatbread and sliced it into triangles, drizzled it with olive oil and then sprinkled it with pink Himalayan sea salt and toasted it on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees in the oven for about 7 minutes.

The meal was completed by a light mixed green salad and a lovely bottle of red wine (Meditrina by Sokol Blosser). Opa!

- Melissa