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.

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Shrimp, Feta and Fennel Dinner

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

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.