Stef’s Half-Greek Shrimp Stew

This is based on a recipe called Thea’s Greek Shrimp Stew, but since I only followed half of the recipe, I gave it a new name. It’s from the book . Ms. Lair’s title is a bit misleading because I think the recipes here are good enough that they can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of whether you have kids or not, but it does make sense that she defined a target market — my kids do enjoy most of the things I’ve cooked from this book.

The combination of shrimp-tomatoes-cheese was a novelty to me as a newlywed, and I remember two similar dishes I prepared back then, one made with feta and the other with chevre. The first was delicious, but the second was unpalatable for me and I remember hubby eating most of it. Chevre has always been one of those cheeses that I either love or hate, perhaps depending on the maker, so I shy away from chevre recipes most of the time. A few years ago everything was chevre, chevre, chevre everywhere I looked, but the fad seems to have died down, thank goodness. Cynthia Lair’s recipe does calls for feta, but I left it out for obvious reasons — I think it would be a heavenly addition to this, along with some crusty bread. We had ours with rice.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 28-oz. can organic diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted ones, yummy!)
1 cup organic tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried mustard (the recipe called for prepared whole grain, but since I had used it for the recipe preceding this, I had none)
1 tablespoon dried dill (or 3 tablespoons fresh)
1 teaspoon brown rice syrup or honey (Lundberg makes a really good brown rice syrup, which we use for making “healthier” rice krispy treats — no marshmallows needed)
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
[If you want to/can use feta, she calls for 1/4 pound of it, crumbled]
1 cup chopped parsley

In a casserole, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, salt and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce,
mustard, dill, and syrup. Simmer 20 minutes. Add shrimp (and feta if using it). Cook 5 more minutes over low heat. Stir in parsley and serve hot.

Serves 4-6.