Garides Saganaki Recipe (Greek Prawns with Feta and Tomato)

Saganaki again refers to the pan rather than the cheese, and this is the other famous dish cooked in one: prawns in a sharp tomato sauce with feta melting over the top.

It takes twenty-five minutes and the only way to get it wrong is timing. Prawns need three or four minutes. The sauce needs twenty. So you make the sauce first, properly, and the prawns go in near the end.

The ouzo is not optional if you want it to taste like the taverna version. A splash flamed off in the pan leaves an aniseed note behind the tomato that is the signature of the dish.

Key preparation steps

1. Build and reduce the tomato sauce fully before the prawns appear.
2. Add ouzo and let it cook off.
3. Stir in the prawns for three minutes only.
4. Crumble feta over and finish under a hot grill.

Shell on or off?

Shell on gives noticeably better flavour, because the shells release it into the sauce, and it looks better. It also makes the dish messy to eat, which in Greece is considered part of the point.

The practical compromise, and what I do, is to peel the bodies but leave the heads and tails on. You get most of the flavour and people can still eat it with a fork.

If you peel them completely, fry the shells in the oil for two minutes at the start and then remove them. That recovers most of what you lose.

Does the ouzo matter?

Yes. It is what distinguishes this from prawns in tomato sauce anywhere else in the Mediterranean. Aniseed and tomato is an unlikely combination that works.

Add it to the hot pan and let it bubble for a minute so the alcohol burns off, leaving the aromatics. If you want the theatre you can flame it, though it makes no difference to the result.

Ouzo, tsipouro or raki all work. Pernod or another anise spirit is a reasonable substitute. If you leave it out entirely, add a pinch of fennel seed instead so there is still something aromatic behind the tomato.

Why the prawns go in last

A prawn is cooked when it turns opaque and curls into a loose C shape. That takes about three minutes in a simmering sauce. Cooked to a tight O it has gone too far and the texture is rubbery.

So the sauce has to be completely finished before they go in. Reduce it, season it, taste it, and only then add the prawns.

The residual heat during the grill stage continues cooking them, so pull them at the point where they are just barely opaque. They will finish under the feta.

Serving

Bread, and a lot of it. The sauce is the best part of this dish and leaving it in the pan is not an option.

Serve straight from the pan it was cooked in, which is both traditional and keeps it hot. A green salad alongside and nothing else.

It does not reheat well because the prawns overcook the second time. Make what you will eat.

Tips from my kitchen