Greek-Style Shrimp Scampi

This Dish Is A Treat For Your Tastebuds!

This is a wonderful dish that I concocted and cooked for my daughter Randi and her husband Dan last summer.  They are both huge aficionados of Greek food and they were getting ready to go on a trip to Greece.  They wanted to get into the spirit of things, so I cooked them a shrimp dish with a distinctive Greek flavor.  They both went crazy for this dish!  

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 5-6 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved if you are using larger cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound of raw extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup of fresh Italian parsley, chopped and divided 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup
• 4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 pound of spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (use a little of the grated rind if you like a more intense lemony flavor) 
• a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the red pepper flakes and the minced garlic.  Saute 1 minute over low flame.  Add the tomatoes.  Sprinkle the tomatoes with the salt and 1/4 cup of the parsley.  Saute over medium flame until the tomatoes start to look soft or cracked- about 3-4 minutes.  Add the shrimp, and cook for about 3-4 minutes just until the shrimp are starting to not look raw.  Take off stove.  Put into casserole dish.  Sprinkle crumbled feta on top and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle shrimp with reserved 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice and a little freshly cracked black pepper.   

Cook spaghetti while shrimp is in the oven.   When you are ready to serve, put a portion of spaghetti on each dinner plate, and then a portion of the shrimp on top of the spaghetti.

Notes: 

1.  You can serve over rice instead of over spaghetti.

2.  You can prepare the dish ahead up until the point where you put the shrimp in the casserole dish, cover it and then refrigerate it.  About a half hour before you put it in the 400 degree oven, take it out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature.  Then bake in the 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.