In the traditional Greek dish called shrimp saganaki, sweet, briny shrimp are covered with a garlic- and herb-accented tomato sauce and topped with crumbles of creamy, salty feta cheese.
Restaurant versions, however, can be a gamble. The shrimp can be tough and rubbery, the tomato sauce can turn out dull or overwhelming, and the feta is often lackluster. We set out to develop a foolproof recipe for home cooks.
Canned diced tomatoes along with sauteed onion and garlic provided the base for the sauce. Dry white wine added acidity, and ouzo, the slightly sweet anise-flavored Greek liqueur, added welcome complexity.
While the shrimp are typically layered with the tomato sauce and feta and baked, we were after a quick and easy dish. We opted to cook the shrimp right in the sauce; adding the shrimp raw to the sauce helped infuse them with the sauce’s bright flavor.