Breaking the Rules: Shellfish with shrimp: Baked shrimp with feta and tomato sauce

Most of Annalena's readers will be familiar with the Italian "rule" for eating, of not combining fish and cheese in the same dish.  The first time Annalena wrote about the rule, she was somewhat astonished at the reaction:  Oh my heavens!  People were very adverse to this idea.  Well, in general, Annalena agrees with it.  She does feel that in most cases fish tastes better without the use of dairy, and she will continue to abide by the rule.

Her trip to Sicily was an eye opener for many reasons, one of which was the "rule," which is sort of ignored - as are so many "rules" of mainland Italy, on the island.  And the dish we are making today (again, courtesy of David Tanis),  violates the rule.  But it's a Greek dish, and Annalena's Greek  assistant has never heard of this restriction.  What can one say but go with it?  And seriously, ragazzi, this is a wickedly easy dish to make which is wickedly good.  Trust Annalena when she says the hardest thing you'll do is peel shrimp.

But we won't peel them yet.  First, we'll get our aromatics together.  We'll need shallots: a fair amount of them.  So, when you go shallot hunting, look for big ones.  If you get big ones, you won't need more than about four.  You're going to dice them, to make a cup.  And what now follows is a bit of a primer on how to do this.

Make sure your knife is sharp and 2-3 times longer than the shallot at its widest point.  After it's peeled, put the flat side down, and make vertical cuts through the beast:

Zoom in, and you'll see the lines.  Now, after you do that, hold the thing down with a couple of fingers, at the broader end, and make 1-2 horizontal cuts:

so that you get this: 

Now all you have to do is run your knife down the shallot, and you have your dice.  Dice up four cloves of garlic too.  And now, we move to the tomatoes:  2 pounds.  At this time of year, there is no excuse for not using fresh heirlooms:

Slice them into uneven segments:

Now, we're ready to start cooking.  Heat up a big pan, with 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the shallots and  when they go translucent add the garlic for a minute or two.  Then add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper,  and some red pepper flakes if you like.  Cook this at low heat for twenty minutes and you'll get: 

YOU MADE TOMATO SAUCE!!!  And while this is happening, we work on the shrimp, and you get Annalena's plea. 

PLEASE DO NOT BUY SHRIMP FROM OVERSEAS.   Do a little research on shrimp farms.  Find out about the disease, the working conditions, the horrific way that the shrimp we eat gets to the table.  You can find wild, American shrimp (Annalena will help you).  You'll pay more.  It's worth it.  

So, a pound of shrimp in the shell:

Annalena has laid her finger along one of the shrimp to show you their size.    Now, you do have to peel these.  It's not hard.  It really isn't.  You can get it done in less than the time that it takes for the sauce to cook. 

After you have peeled them,  put the tomato sauce in a non metallic dish, and place the shrimp on top, in an interesting pattern:

Annalena has already crumbled up about 1/3 of a pound of feta on top of this.  Pretty dish, isn't it?  Put it into the oven, at 400 for 20 minutes, and it's even prettier:

And the finale plated up:

Annalena has given you a lot of details, but go through this:  it's really very easy.  Make sure you have some bread on hand or, even better, some orzo.  And you're good.  A pound of shrimp will give you four good portions of this stuff, and you'll make it again.  Annalena guarantees it.