Prawn Saganaki

Name: Prawn Saganaki
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Greek
Ingredients: ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (60ml); 1 red onion, finely diced; Salt flakes, to taste; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; ¼ teaspoon dried Greek oregano (rigani), or more to taste; 400g (14oz) crushed canned Italian tomatoes (polpa); 500g medium-sized green prawns, peeled and deveined (1lb); About 2 teaspoons finely sliced flat-leaf parsley leaves; 100g Feta (3½oz)

Prawn saganaki, or garides me Feta as it’s sometimes called in Greek, is a popular taverna dish in seafood-loving Greece. The saganaki is a two-handled copper baking dish in which the prawns are often cooked and served. It also gives its name to saganaki cheese, pan-fried cheese cooked and served in a saganaki pan. I like to use authentic Greek Feta for saganaki prawns as it’s firm enough to hold its shape well in the hot sauce, just softening enough. Of course you could use another Feta-like cheese (such as Sirene from Bulgaria) or even the much softer Persian fetta, which will give a different texture. See video below for another simple baked dish combining Feta and tomatoes. While leaving the tails on the prawns for visual appeal works well in some recipes, I think it’s best to remove them for prawn saganaki, so that everything in the sauce is edible. If you buy good sized prawns for this dish, so that you have 8 or 9 to work with, they’re best split lengthways so they cook quickly and evenly and remain juicy and tender. If you have much smaller prawns, there’s no need to split them. Keeping the flavours Mediterranean, I love a glass of Chalmers falanghina with my prawns saganaki. This southern Italian grape is also called falanghina Greco, suggesting it may have been introduced to Italy from Greece; it has a pleasing slightly bitter finish that balances the sweetness of the tomato sauce really well.

Serves 4 or more as part of a mezze

Ingredients

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (60ml)
1 red onion, finely diced
Salt flakes, to taste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch dried chilli flakes, to taste
¼ teaspoon dried Greek oregano (rigani), or more to taste
400g (14oz) crushed canned Italian tomatoes (polpa)
500g medium-sized green prawns, peeled and deveined (1lb)
About 2 teaspoons finely sliced flat-leaf parsley leaves
100g Feta (3½oz)
Crusty bread, for serving

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
Place oil and onion in an ovenproof frying pan over low heat with a good pinch of salt and cook, covered for 15 minutes or so, until tender.
Add garlic, chilli and oregano and stir for another minute or so, until garlic is aromatic.
Add tomato, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice prawns in half lengthways and remove any remaining digestive tract.
Arrange prawns in the sauce and place in oven for 5 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and turn the overhead grill on high.
Crumble feta over the prawns and return pan to the oven for a few minutes until cheese has softened.
Sprinkle with parsley and serve prawns saganaki warm or at room temperature with plenty of bread to mop up the sauce.