A Fast Trip to the Greek Isles

A couple of weeks ago, Molly P. (or Mo as I call her) had us make a Greek Tomato, Spinach, Shirmp dish that you serve on top of rice.  It was insanely delicious.  We also made Bakerella's Easy Apple Cake because Mo had a plethora of apples.  We ate really well that night.

I really couldn't get enough of the Greek dish, so naturally the next day I went to the grocery store and bought all the ingredients to make it.  Of course, that week ended up so busy I didn't get to making it until this week.

When we made it at Mo's - we had a cookbook in front of us.  I didn't have that when I made up my dish this week, and I couldn't call Mo because she was at orchestra.  But I remembered the basic ingredients - Spinach, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Olive Oil, Shrimp, Lemon Juice, Oregano, Salt and Pepper, and Feta Cheese.  You also had to make the rice separately which you then plated and then scooped the Greek dish over.  When we made it at Mo's - there ended up being a lot of moisture in the dish due to all the fresh vegetables.  Not that having a little soup at the bottom of the dish is a bad thing - if you have a fresh loaf of French bread with which to sop it up it's all good.  But I have no french bread in my house right now, so I decided that instead of making this dish so you can dish it up ontop of some kind of grain - I would combine it with said grain.  Taa daa - Casserole.   While I originally envisioned using penne pasta, I didn't have penne pasta when I decided to make it.  But I did have orzo.  Orzo works great because 1) it is traditionally thought of as being a greek pasta 2) It kinda looks like rice but is loads easier to make.

Needless to say - the dish ended up fantastic.  So without further ado:

Emily's Greek Inspired Casserole

Ingredients (I have a tendency to cook by feeling so measurements are approximates):
1 small red onion, minced
~2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 or 3 medium tomatos (any type of tomato will do), chopped
~1 bag spinach
1 lb. shrimp
~1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
~1-2 Tbsp Oregano
Dash Salt and Pepper
~2 cup uncooked Orzo

Directions:
Thaw Shrimp.  If using Frozen shrimp - rinse shrimp under cold water for about 5 minutes.  Remove shells if necessary, then chop each shrimp in half.  Put aside.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat a big pot of water on top of stove so it boils.  While waiting for boil, cut up your onion and tomato.  If you are using farmstand spinach - take off the stems (because they are generally big and fiberous) and rinse leaves.  If you are using bag spinach from the grocery store, just rinse off the spinach (the stems are very tiny and soft). 

Heat up olive oil in a large skillet.  When the water is boiling, pour in orzo and cook for about 5-6 minutes.  Be sure to set a time because you want to just begin the orzo cooking, but not finish it.  Meanwhile add onions to pan with oil.  Cook for 2 minutes, until onions begin to soften.  Then add tomatoes.  Cook for another minute.  Mixture will get kind of soupy.  Then add Spinach.  Cook until spinach is wilted. Finally, add in lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper.  Mix thouroughly.

As soon as the timer for the orzo goes off, remove orzo from heat and rinse.  Transfer orzo to a large casserole dish.  If you need to - finish cooking the spinach, tomato, onion mixture.  It'll be really soupy, but that is ok.  Pour all the mixture in with the orzo.  Mix well.  Then add in shrimp and mix well again.  Add in half (~8 oz.) of the feta cheese and mix.

Top dish with remaining feta cheese.  Place dish in oven and cook for another 20-25 minutes.  Then serve.