Prawn Saganaki

This is a dish that transports me instantly to the Greek Isles, particularly Corfu and is something I've been making for a decade. In fact I shared this recipe for it back in 2013 but I have updated it a little since then.

I serve this with fresh, chunky bread to dip in the unctuous sauce with oozing melty feta and a side salad.

You can use any prawns, but the shell on kind are the best as they add flavour to the sauce; just prepare a finger bowl with water and lemon and serve with serviettes or kitchen paper!

Prawn Saganaki

Prawn Saganaki

Here's how:

• 400g king prawns (shell on)
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp capers 
• 6 tomatoes (you can use a tin too)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3 tbsp dry white wine
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 block of feta (200g)
• Olive oil
• A few basil leaves to garnish

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and place an ovenproof pan on the hob on a medium heat with a generous drizzle of olive oil. 

Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic and add to the pan.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the pan with the white wine, oregano, honey and a good pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook down for at least fifteen minutes or until the tomatoes have broken down and become a little mushy. 

Now remove about half of the sauce and place into a blender or Nutribullet and blitz to a puree then return to the pan and mix the two halves together. 

Break the feta into bite sized pieces and scatter two thirds of it all over the dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes then remove from the oven and place onto the hob.

Now arrange the prawns on top, pushing each one into the sauce a little. Complete by taking the leftover feta and crumbling into small bits all over the prawns. 

Return to the oven for 12 minutes, or until the prawns are cooked through and have turned a glorious shade of pink. Take care not to over-cook or you'll end up with rubbery prawns. 

When you remove from the oven leave to stand for five minutes before serving and garnish with a few basil leaves. Enjoy!

As you may know I'm a little obsessed with Greek food and here are a few other recipes you may enjoy too:

• Lamb Kleftiko
• Beef Stamna
• Chicken Souvlaki
• Greek Chicken Thighs with Roasted Jersey Royals
• Spanakopita - Greek Cheese & Spinach Pie
• Greek Chicken One Pot
• Souzoukakia - Greek Meatball Bake
• Greek Stuffed Tomatoes - Gemistes
• Greek Chicken Tray Bake
• Moussaka - Our Greek Meat Pie
• Pastitsio - The Greek Lasagna
• Greek Briam - Vegetable Stew

Moussaka - our Greek Meat Pie

Mousakka is a fantastic family meal and a great alternative to a cottage or shepherd’s pie but one which is equally devoured by my little ladies. Bridget calls this ‘Greek meat pie’ and her and Beatrice had it at least 7 times on our recent fortnight in Kefalonia – a firm favourite.

I favour the version which seems to be more prevalent in the Ionian Islands (Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos) which has a layer of potato in a creamy white sauce enriched with egg, rather than the more well-known layer of aubergine. If you would rather include aubergine instead, just slice an aubergine into 1cm slices, and dry fry for 30 seconds before layering on top of the meat.

I use beef, which again seems to be the norm in the Ionian Islands, but again in some parts of Greece, Turkey and he Balkans this is more traditionally lamb mince, it’s totally adaptable and down to your own personal preference.

It is very much a Greek cooking method to ‘enrich’ a sauce using a beaten egg, which is done here, but please do ensure you wait until the sauce has completely cooled otherwise your hard work will be reduced to scrambled egg.

You’ll be hard pushed to find a more satisfyingly rich meat sauce than a slow cooked Greek one. Greek food often gets a bad rap in the UK, but I think it’s fantastic and my family certainly agree.If you tried and liked the Patsitsio recipe recently - this is up there with that for delivering on flavour, comfort and pleasing all of the family.

Feeds 4-5 and I serve with salad.

Moussaka - our Greek Meat Pie

Here’s how:
The meat:

• Drizzle olive oil
• 500g steak mince
• 1 red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 heaped tsp cinnamon
• 1 heaped tsp dried oregano
• 1 pinch salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 200ml red wine (I used Chianti as we had a bottle open)
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• Handful bay leaves

The topping:

• 4-5 white potatoes (I used desiree)
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 300ml whole milk
• 50g Grana Padana or Kefalotyri if you can get hold of it
• Nutmeg

I make the white sauce first by melting the butter into a non-stick pan, then slowly adding the flour and mixing the whole time with a wooden spoon to make a roux. Now slowly add the milk, mixing in the roux the whole time, pressing it down until it takes the form of the sauce rather than a big lump. Repeat until all of the milk is added, then add the grated cheese and a little nutmeg and continue cooking and stirring the whole time for a further five minutes until the sauce is thick and glossy. Now set aside away from the heat and allow to fully cool.

For the meat sauce, add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan, and place on a medium heat.

Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic and add to the pan. After a couple of minutes, add the mince, cinnamon and oregano and season generously. (You can leave out the salt if preparing for a small baby.)

Use a wooden spoon to break down the meat so it doesn’t clump together and once browned add the flour and mix well. This will help to thicken the final meat sauce.

Now add the red wine, passata and tomato puree, stir well and cook for 30 minutes until it has reduced down to a thick and unctuous ragu.

While the meat sauce is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut into slices about 1cm thick. Give them a good rinse then pour over boiling water add a pinch of salt and cook for five minutes, then drain.

By now the white sauce should have cooled sufficiently, so beat an egg in a separate bowl and then combine with the white sauce, mix well and it should add an extra glossiness to the sauce.

Once you are satisfied with the meat sauce, remove from the heat and spoon into an oven-proof dish.

Now layer the potatoes over so all of the meat is covered.

Now spoon over the white sauce, using the back of the spoon to spread out evenly and ensure everything has a coating of the sauce. The addition of the egg means this should help the topping to ‘hold’ well so once the dish is complete and you’re ready to dish up, you should be able to slice into neat squares of moussaka.

Scatter over the remaining grated cheese and a smidge more freshly grated nutmeg and this is ready for the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Moussaka - just out of the oven

Moussaka - a firm family favourite

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before portioning and plating up for the family. I serve with salad and this was enough for my family of four plus a generous portion for the following day’s lunch.

Here’s some of our other favourite Greek dishes:
Prawn Saganaki
Pastitsio
Briam
Gemistes
Feta & Spinach Open Tart
Greek Salad
Greek Chicken One Pot
Souvlaki
Tzatziki
Greek Yoghurt and Honey Baked Cheesecake

Prawn Saganaki

In some parts of Greece I understand this dish is called youvetsi – after the name of the dish it is cooked in, but to me it will always be Prawn Saganaki, as it was when I first tried it in gorgeous Corfu.

A lovely Greek lady, Angelliki, gave me the basics for this recipe when I enjoyed it at her hotel taverna back in 2008, when I was working as a holiday rep and would hungrily demolish many a meal prepared by this lovely lady. She was an inspiration in many ways – as well as working many hours with her husband Costas at the hotel they only managed, not owned, she prepared the majority of the food that was served there, and had two beautiful young children who she was always running around after too. They were a very generous couple always trying to feed me up and happily, were open to sharing the odd recipe too. A tiny couple of tweaks, to accommodate what is readily and affordably available in sunny Essex and here is the recipe below.

If you can get hold of them the sauce is much improved my having large shell-on prawns, and these also make for an impressive looking dish too, but for an affordable mid-week meal, ordinary prawns are just fine. I serve with a side salad and some simple fresh bread and it makes for a delicious taste of the Med, especially comforting now the colder nights are drawing in.

Here’s how:

200g fresh, raw prawns

Tin of chopped tomatoes

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp fresh oregano

1 tbsp fresh parsley

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp fresh lemon thyme

150g feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsps dry white wine (Retsina for traditionally Greek saganaki)

Firstly you need to make a good tomato sauce as the basis. I do this in an oven-proof skillet above the hob so you can continue the cooking all in the one pan. The depth to which you prepare the sauce depends on how much time you have – obviously if you want a rich sauce, cook for longer, but if time is short, then a quick sauce is more than sufficient – especially mid-week.

To prepare your sauce add the olive oil to the pan and place over a low-mid heat. Dice the onion as finely as possible and crush the garlic and add both to the pan. Once softened (after 5-10 minutes),  add the wine and cook off – this will take another 5 minutes or so on a medium heat.

Next add the chopped tomatoes. Again you can of course use fresh tomatoes for this dish as and when they are available. Add a pinch of salt and black pepper here and the teaspoon of brown sugar and stir through. Add half of the chopped parsley and oregano and all of the lemon thyme to the sauce and cook over the hob for thirty minutes – or longer if you have the time.

In the meantime, chop the feta in cubes – I prefer this to crumbling the cheese as in the finished dish you are left with lovely gooey, delicious feta.

Taste the sauce and if you feel it needs it add further salt and/or pepper. Remove the lemon thyme stalks as they are unpleasant to bite into and will have imparted their flavour into the sauce now

Arrange the feta around the dish and sprinkle the rest of the parsley and most of the remaining oregano and place into a pre-heated oven at 180-200 degrees for fifteen minutes.

Remove the dish and add the prawns, scattering around as evenly as possible.

Return to the oven for a further five minutes, checking that all of the prawns have turned pink to show they are cooked through, and remove, ready to serve. Prawns take very little cooking so remove from the oven as soon as they have all turned pink to avoid being left with rubbery, overcooked prawns which are not tasty! Instead you should have delicious, succulent and juicy just-cooked prawns – lovely. Scatter over the remaining oregano before serving – enjoy!