Baked Stuffed Shrimp

Recently I have been trying to be super good about my eating habits.  My weekday lunches have been poached chicken and salad.  The dressing is just oil and vinegar, diluted with a bit of water, and shaken until emulsified.  Yup, my kitchen is exciting folks!

Weekday breakfasts are equally inspiring.  In a mason jar I combine milk, quick oats, a touch of honey, and some fruit.  Shake to combine and then let sit in the fridge overnight.  My cold oatmeal is less about being in on the latest healthy breakfast trend and more about being the fastest breakfast prep on the planet - unscrew top and insert spoon.

Dinnertime roles around and I let myself off the hook a bit.  I am not an anti-starch person.  Potatoes and I get along rather well and I do not intend for the two of us to ever break up.  However, there are times when I feel food abuses my love of starch.

The prime example is the baked stuffed shrimp.  I see it on restaurant menus or it comes as a dinner option of the wedding rsvp card and I initially think, oooo shrimp!  Then I think, oooo gross stuffing.  Baked stuffed shrimp gets put down in front of you and it's dripping butter in all the wrong ways, the shrimp is rubbery, and the whole thing falls far short of the mark.  Thankfully, I usually remember all of this before I order it.

I found myself thinking about baked stuffed shrimp a few weeks ago.  With the farmer's market in full swing and the weather finally heating up, my mind began to drift to thoughts of water and its contents - seafood! I had bravely attempted swordfish and all of its smelliness.  Now I wanted something I bit easier.  Nothing is simpler to cook than shrimp.  Of course, I realized I wasn't in the mood for simple.

Baked stuffed shrimp isn't simple.  It requires prep work and more ingredients than just a pan, some butter, and a few shrimp.  But, I decided it was time to find a better stuffed shrimp recipe.  Sadly, even Pinterest failed me until I stumbled across a recipe for stuffed squid.

This recipe called for stuffing the tentacles with spinach, tomatoes, and feta.  It sounded wonderful and the perfect substitute for the normal stuffing on shrimp.  I wanted to give mine a bit more Mediterranean flair, so I added kalamata olives.  The result was a baked stuffed shrimp fit for summer!

Mediterranean Style Baked Stuffed Shrimp

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Jumbo shrimp

2/3 lbs. spinach - raw

1 tomato - diced

1/4 c. kalamata olives - sliced

2 oz. feta cheese crumbles

1 egg - lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Steam spinach in the microwave for about one minute.  Transfer to a heated skillet with a bit of oil and cook for an additional 3 - 5 minutes.  Remove pan from hot burner and let sit as you prep the shrimp and the rest of the stuffing.

Shrimp need to peeled, leaving the tail and that first attached segment.  Carefully butterfly the shrimp, giving yourself a platform to hold the stuffing.  

Once the spinach has cooled down, drain excess liquid.  Place it in a bowl and add the diced tomatoes, sliced kalamata olives, and feta crumbles.  Mix together and then add the beaten egg.  Mix again.  The egg is simply acting as a binder for all of your ingredients.

Place about a tablespoon of stuffing onto each shrimp.  Bake for 20 minutes.

I loved everything about this recipe.  It was nice and fresh with really great flavors.  The olives and feta gave the dish a nice tangy bite.  Most importantly, nothing overpowered the shrimp.  This is a perfect light recipe for summer!