Orzo with Shrimp, Feta Cheese, and White Wine

I made this one for dinner this week. We had chicken and tofu other nights this week, and I was just feeling like shrimp. I had all the ingredients for this one on hand except white wine. We don't drink wine, so I had to go to my friendly neighborhood liquor store and pick up some. It was actually a fairly classy liquor store, right next to Kroger; lots of frou-frou wines with names that I had never heard of. I picked up a four pack of little single serving wine bottles (Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc) - got that tip from the Chowhound forums. Apparently, opened wine goes bad, some say after three days. Now, I don't even like the taste of wine, so I probably wouldn't be able to tell a good wine from a rancid one. But the little four pack cost six dollars, and that way I don't waste a whole bottle of wine for one dish, when all I need is half a cup. Now I have three more little bottles for the next time I need white wine to cook with. So that's my tip for the day.

This dish tasted good, but was a little disappointing. One, because you could not really taste the feta. There were too many strong flavors in this recipe and they competed with one another. If I made it again, I would cut the amount of oregano and crushed red pepper in half, and cut down on the basil a little bit. Two, my husband took one bite and declared that it needed more tomato sauce. So he goes to the fridge and pulls out some Walmart spaghetti sauce and pours some onto his dinner! After I slaved over a hot stove to make a fresh, home-cooked meal - he puts Walmart sauce on top of it! He kind of sensed that I was not happy with his desecration of the dinner I cooked for us, and asked me if this was comparable to the time we had an acquaintance over for dinner (for Greek chicken kabobs over white rice) and she asked for salsa to put on the white rice. Now, if you want to insult an Asian person, an easy way to do this is put bottled salsa on top of white rice. My jaw may have dropped when she asked for salsa, I can't really remember.

Anyway, I will probably not make this again just because my husband didn't like it, even though overall I did. It's no fun cook things for dinner that are only enjoyed by half the people eating it. This did taste better the next day, though, after the flavors melded a little bit. Though I still really couldn't taste the feta.