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| Garides Saganaki served in a medium ramekin |
If you want to surprise your guests during Christmas, the garides saganaki is the recipe you need. It is very easy to make, it has an impressive presentation, an exotic touch and it is also one of those recipes that you repeat ad nauseam because the flavor impacts. It can also be considered cheap if you use frozen raw prawns.
"Garides" (γαρίδες) is the Greek term for shrimps. If you use prawns, then we would speak of karabides saganaki (καραβίδες). It is served in individual clay dishes which are very common in Greece but not so much in West. I am not referring to the individual clay pots where the creme brule is served, but rather deeper ones, like a soup bowl (think that each one should contain about 200 grams / 7 oz of prawns). This casserole is called saganaki in Greece, and as it will be difficult for you to find it outside the Hellenic country, you can use clay bowls for soup or even ramekins like those used for soufflé, even small pyrex dishes. Anything that can bear the heat of the oven.
To make garides saganaki you must therefore get hold of three very Greek products. First of all, the clay bowls that we have already seen. Secondly, feta cheese (which you will surely find in any supermarket) and ouzo liqueur.
Ouzo is a very typical Greek liqueur made by double distillation of wine to which anise seeds are added to give it a very particular flavor. This liquor takes different names depending on where it is produced, although the taste is very similar in all cases. You can find ouzo in many specialized liquor stores but if this is not your case you can use any brandy, even if it is not aniseed (italian grappa or sambuca for instance,). And if you can't find it either, white wine will do.
INGREDIENTS (4/6 diners)
- 1 Kg (2.2 pounds) of prawns or prawns
- Half a kilo (1.1 pounds) of fresh tomatoes
- 2 large onions
- 2 green peppers for frying (Italian or similar)
- 250 grams (9 oz) of feta cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 hot red chilli (optional)
- 50 ml (1 quarter cup) of ouzo liquor or similar
- Oregano
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Finely chop the garlic cloves, onions and green peppers and fry them in a large frying pan with plenty of olive oil. If we want them to be spicy, we grate the red chilli.
The traditional way of preparing the prawns is to remove the shell, clean the black line that runs through the body but leave the head and tail.
When the onion is transparent, add the "shirtless" prawns and the ouzo glass. We remove the entire pan with circular movements, since if we put a wooden spoon the heads and tails will begin to fall and the aesthetic effect of so much decapitation and mutilation will not be good (sorry to be so graphic)
When the liquor has almost completely evaporated (about two minutes is enough), we add the peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes (eyes, chopped, not chopped), seasoning and sprinkling a little chopped oregano (which is the most loved seasoning for the Greeks). Be careful with the salt because the cheese that we will add next is already quite salty by itself. Let it simmer for about five minutes and take to plate.
We pour into each earthenware bowl an equal proportion of prawns / shrimps and fried vegetables trying not to reach the edge. We cut the feta cheese into cubes and with them we crown the bowls. We take them to the grill in the oven and leave them long enough for the cheese to melt and acquire a golden hue. It's ready. And pay attention to the way it is served: they go straight from the oven to the table, boiling, as if it were a "fondué".