What You Should Have Eaten #52

Greek Bread Salad with Grilled Shrimp

I held off on this recipe for a week or so so I could cook it in honor of a friend who was getting married. She’s Greek, the recipe is Greek…kismet!

I was disappointed that I couldn’t also include the drink in this tribute, but I had no ouzo or metaxa in my liquor cabinet. So I made a Green Dragon, which is cognac and crème de menthe. I was not expecting this mixture to be that great, but it surprised me. I figured crème de menthe would be a better mixer with a clear liquor like vodka or gin, but it works here.

I didn’t get 20 shrimp. Now that this blog is all about cooking these recipes on a budget, my options were limited. Fresh was out of the question, so onto frozen. The bag I got still felt like a bit of a rip-off, even on sale.

Some of my personal preferences show up here: no onions, regular cucumber instead of seedless, and no olives. That last one became a rule after a horrible experience with them a few months ago. Ugh, I still have nightmares about it.

This is the first time I’ve used feta cheese. It won’t be my last.

I didn’t grill the shrimp. It was a bit chilly, plus I think I need a new charcoal chimney. I left mine out after the last time I used it, and it’s rusted all to hell. I’m not going to risk rust flakes coming off onto the charcoal and infusing into the food…if that’s even possible. Just won’t risk it. So I sautéed them instead. I covered them with garlic, fresh mint and lemon juice, added just a hint of bread crumbs (not sure why, just felt right at the time), then dumped everything in a hot pan with butter. It was spectacular.

Since I didn’t fire up the grill, that means I also didn’t grill the pita. No worries, though. I just popped them in the toaster, and they turned out just fine.

Despite being a salad almost totally devoid of any leafy greens, I really enjoyed it. Also, it was surprisingly filling.  

Also, in case you've forgotten: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps...especially with Christmas bills here and an unsure/shaky work situation. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!