Cooking while on vacation? Yes! And it is a blast (especially when you have the men do the dishes). We recently visited a little slice of God’s heaven, Costa Rica. We were fortunate to have accommodations with a beautiful kitchen, so we took full advantage. Believe it or not, we actually cancelled a dinner reservation at the Four Seasons so we could make this meal together! Cooking with friends or family while on vacation makes for wonderful memories – especially if there’s rum involved! So the next time you’re vacationing with a kitchen available, cancel those reservations, turn up the music, pour the cocktails, and let the fun begin.
Shrimp, Feta and Fennel Dinner
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 cups fennel diced
- 5 Tbsp olive oil divided
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14 ounce, fire roasted if possible
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp rum
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 2 pounds jumbo shrimp 12-24 per pound, peeled and deveined with tails left on
- 8 ounce feta cubed
- 5 slices whole wheat bread dried out and crusts removed
- 4 Tbsp fresh parsley minced
- 2 tsp lime zest
- 2 limes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Heat 3 Tbsp of the olive oil over medium heat in a large oven-proof fry pan. When oil is hot, sauté fennel for around 5-8 minutes until it is soft.
- Add the garlic and sauté for an additional minute.
- Add the wine and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Then add diced canned tomato with the juice, cherry tomatoes, oregano, rum, and salt and pepper to the pan. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.
- While this dish is simmering, put bread in a food processor and pulse until bread crumbs form.
- Place crumbs in a bowl and mix with the lime zest and parsley. Pour 2 T. of olive oil in the bowl, mix, and set aside.
- Place shrimp tails up in the pan (on top of the tomato/fennel mixture) and cover with feta.
- Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over the top.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and squeeze the juice of one time over the top.
Notes
Serve with herbed white rice and lime wedges. A nice side dish is sautéed French green beans with fresh dill.
Serves 6.
