Shrimp and Grits

 

My friends that dine with me often know how much I love shrimp and grits and how often I order it when we’re out. You would think since I’ve developed my love of cooking that I would have tried out this recipe, but I hadn’t…..until now! I have another confession to make. This is a tough one to admit since I’m a southern girl. Hi, my name is Dawn and I’ve never cooked grits. I know! I’m ashamed. I’ve only made instant grits. You know, the kind where you open a single serving package, add hot water and eat? Yeah, embarrassing, right? My father would be embarrassed. He always made us real grits. Well, now I’ve made grits on the stovetop and I must admit, they were pretty tasty. Must have been that cream cheese I added in at the end!

 

I wanted my first venture into the shrimp and grit world to be simple and quick. Luckily I was home during lunch one day and caught one of my friends, Sandra Lee, making this recipe on the Food Network. I altered her recipe a bit to make it more yummy, in my opinion. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind my enhancements. I’m  happy to share my recipe with you so let’s get started!

 

Ingredients:

 

Salt & pepper

1 cup quick grits

¼ cube cream cheese

3 strips bacon, coarsely chopped

½ Vidalia onion

1 small red bell pepper

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (or frozen)

1 clove minced garlic

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons hot sauce

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

 

Directions:

 

Cook grits according to package. Once grits are ready, remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted. The cream cheese makes the creamy, really bright white, and delicious!

 

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. 

Turn the heat to med-high, add the onions and pepper and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Then stir in garlic. 

Deglaze pan with the white wine…..which means, pour the wine in the pan and scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. You don’t want all that flavor to go to waste.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until the wine reduces. Add the shrimp, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until shrimp turns pink, about 3-4 minutes. Or you can use frozen shrimp like I did. I thawed it out first, then added to pan just to heat.

Stir in butter, lemon juice and hot sauce. Toss around in the pan to coat the shrimp. Remove from heat, stir in parsley. Divide the grits among 4 bowls and spoon shrimp mixture on top of each. Now that is quick, easy and delicious!

 Now all you have to do is enjoy the fact that you made shrimp and grits….I did this by saying over and over “this is really good”, “I made shrimp and grits”. I will say that my husband was pretty pleased and went back to scrape any remnants out of the pan. I like a happy customer!