I grew up in South Carolina where grits are a breakfast staple. Add some salt, pepper, butter and mix in your bacon and eggs and I’m a happy girl. My nana would make a huge pot of grits and she cooked them perfectly, not too thick, not too runny, and not lumpy. In fact, a bill in South Carolina states:
“Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina was once the site of a grits mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as Charleston’s The Post and Courier proclaimed in 1952, “An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of grits is a man of peace.”
Well, I move to Texas and most folks don’t really eat grits. Imagine my delight when I saw shrimp and grits on the menu at Fire Oak Grill in Weatherford, TX. The owner, Eric Hunter spent some time in Georgia and brought this dish back to Texas and it’s to die for! The only problem, it’s very high in calories from lots of butter, flour, and oils. I looked through the recipe and saw this has the potential to be a very tasty, healthier meal!
The recipe we came up with was the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever tasted!! It’s sure to impress and although it looks like a lot of steps, it’s fairly easy to follow and make! I highly recommend purchasing stone ground grits instead of instant grits, which can become mushy. Make the stock and marinade the shrimp earlier in the day or the night before.
Also, if you’re like my mama, devein the shrimp. It’s just something about it….
This is definitely a recipe to make when you have plenty of time! You will feel like a gourmet chef!
Shrimp & Grits
Course: Main DishCuisine: SouthernDifficulty: Intermediate4
servings2
hours1
hour30
minutesIngredients
• 1 1/2 pounds gulf shrimp, shell on if making your own stock.
• 1/2 lbs andouille sausage
• 2 cups fresh grits, gristmill grits are best
• 1/4 cup local goat cheese
• 2 cups promiseland 2% milk
• 4 cups shrimp stock (you can buy seafood stock but we will make your own for this recipe)
• 2 large carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 15 cloves garlic
• 1 large yellow onion
• 4 okra pods
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 poblano pepper
• 2 T flour or cornstarch for gluten free
• 2 Tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 large local tomatoes
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & Pepper
• Parsley & Green onion for garnish
Directions
- Peel and devein shrimp, saving all shells for shrimp stock.
- Make Shrimp stock if you aren’t using store bought
- Cut celery, onion, carrot, 11 cloves garlic into 1/2 in x 1/2 inch dice
- Crush garlic with knife blade
- In a 10 qt sauce pot add all ingredients, shrimp shells, and one large tomato, chopped plus 1 tablespoon smoked paprika.
- Fill pot with hot water. Leave enough room for the liquid to boil (2 in from the top ).
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer for two hour if time allows. This can be done the day before in need be.
- Roast Chiles
- Toss chiles in 2 tsp of olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt over both. Roast over open flame or under broil in an oven until the entire chiles are charred. Let cool for a few minutes then remove all skin and seeds. They are ready to use now.
- Shrimp Marinade
- Take half of the red bell pepper & half of the poblano pepper and add to blender, also add 3 cloves of garlic, 1 T smoked paprika and 1/4 diced large yellow onion. Turn on blender to medium setting slowly adding Extra Virgin Olive Oil, just enough to make everything smooth. Toss deveined shrimp in marinade let stand in refrigerator for about and hour.
- Grits
- In a Medium sauce pot on medium high heat add 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Sauté 1/4 cup diced yellow onion and 1 tbsp minced garlic. Constantly stirring to keep form burning.
- Once it becomes translucent deglaze with 1/4 cup white wine.
- Once its reduced almost all the liquid, add the milk. Let the milk come to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and start stirring in grits.
- Start to add 4 oz of shrimp stock at a time until it absorbs all the stock then add more.
- Fresh grits take 45 minutes to an hour to cook. Grits will need to be stirred often through the whole process. The consistency will become very thick.
- Once the grain starts to become soft its done, add goat cheese stir in well and salt & pepper to taste.
- Cook Shrimp & Sausage
- Remove skin from sausage and cut 1/8 inch slices on a bias.
- Cut okra in half longways. In a large sauté pan add 1 tsp olive oil on high heat. Place okra skin side up and let sear for 1 minute. Remove okra and save for later.
- Add another tbsp of olive oil on high heat and cook shrimp until ALMOST done 2-3 minutes and remove.
- In the same pan add sausage, julienned chiles, 1 diced tomato and 1 cup shrimp stock. Let cook for 2 minutes.
- To thicken this, add slurry of cornstarch or flour by mixing it with a little bit of water then adding the slurry to the pan.
- Add shrimp and okra to finish cooking both. Around 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off pan.
- Plating
- In medium pasta bowls spoon in grits to center of the bowl. Arrange shrimp around the edge of the grits. Then add sausage & okra to the middle of the grits. The pour sauce over the middle of grits. Finish with a pinch of fresh chopped parsley and green onion.
