Last week, I shot a little commercial for SAY Media here in my apartment and the food stylist (who ended up being my friend Brett) came with tons of ingredients and left many behind. Most significantly: a bag of shrimp.
On Saturday morning, I decided I wanted to put that shrimp to work along with a bag of very authentic grits that I picked up in Charleston, South Carolina. At first, I thought I might wing it, doing the fast technique that Chef Peter Dale taught me for my cookbook in Athens, GA (it’s a great combination of chorizo, shrimp, and arugula); but then I thought it might be fun to do a more traditional shrimp and grits, and since I was using Charleston grits I turned to the Lee Bros.
Their recipe involves tomatillos and jalapeños, which I didn’t have, so I used their recipe more as a prompt than an actual guide. To start, I got out my bag of Charleston grits:
Following the directions on the side of the bag, I poured 1 1/3 cup into a big red bowl:
Covered them with water and then drained off the water and any debris that floated to the top:
Then I heated 3 cups of water and 1 cup of milk, along with a teaspoon of salt, and when it was simmering I stirred in the grits. Lowered the heat and 45 minutes later, I added a pat of butter and they were crazy delicious:
As for the shrimp, the key to the process is making a quick stock with the shrimp shells. I was in a little bit of a bind because most of the shrimp in my little bag didn’t have shells, but I took off what I could find, added them to a pot with 3 cups of water, a few bay leaves, some peppercorns and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. Oh and a little salt. Up went the heat and I let that boil for 20 minutes:
Then I strained that into a measuring glass, yielding about 1 1/2 cups (perfect):
Prep-wise, I chopped half a yellow onion and a red pepper (the recipe calls for green pepper and yellow pepper, but I didn’t have those):
Now it’s time to bring all of this together. In a cast iron skillet, render a few strips of bacon that you cut into lardons:
When the bacon’s crispy, lift it out on to a plate (set aside) and add some butter to the hot pan.
(Note: I added too much butter and lifted that out before it fully melted, stirring it into the grits instead.)
Then add your veg with a pinch of salt:
While that’s cooking, whisk together a tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of your shrimp stock:
Pour your shrimp stock into the pan with the vegetables:
Whisk in the flour mixture and add a chopped tomato (this was my own touch since I didn’t have tomatillos and jalapeños):
Let that all cook together until it’s nice and thick and tasty (be sure to taste here) then add all of your shrimp.
Stir those in and in about 2 minutes they’ll be done.
Hey look, you made authentic shrimp and grits. Spoon some grits into a bowl (don’t those look good?):
Top with your shrimp mixture, the reserved bacon and some chopped parsley (or cilantro which is what I had):
Just goes to show you: sometimes taking the longer route yields big rewards. I’m going to write a poem about that some day.
This looks sensational. I don’t have southern grits but I do have some high quality local ones and I’m sure they’ll be fine. Love the cilantro at the very end. How many would this serve as a main course? Does the bowl have to be red?
Hi Bob, you could up the portions easily, doing about 5 shrimp per person… then just add more liquid, etc, and cook up a big pot of grits. Good luck.
Hi Bob, you could up the portions easily, doing about 5 shrimp per person… then just add more liquid, etc, and cook up a big pot of grits. Good luck.
nice
Shrimp & grits is one of my favorite dishes! Peels on the Bowery does them really well.
I love your style of cooking, Adam. You substitute fearlessly and don’t hesitate to make dishes your own. It’s refreshing :)
Beautiful, and I love shrimp & grits, especially grits with a lot of parmesan :-).
I love the shrimp and grits at the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville. Here’s the recipe: http://www.agirldefloured.com/2012/04/10/shrimp-goat-cheese-grits/ The goat cheese take these over the top!
This will taste great cant wait to practice it at home
This will taste great cant wait to practice it at home
This will taste great cant wait to practice it at home
great photos
This will taste great cant wait to practice it at home
photos are especially great
Where can you get grits here in Los Angeles? Can you use polenta instead?
My mouth is watering.
As I am from S.America I can’t tell the difference between cornmeal and grits.I’d like to know it.Thank you.
Grits are coarse cornmeal, and you can use polenta.
Oh, my God. Everything looks so delicious, I would like to try cilantro cause fond of soups:) would like to praise author for such exotic photos!
To be honest your choice of vegetables amazes, you chose yellow onions plus red pepper which is unique for soups!
About shrimps: Wow, shrimps for me one of my favorite seafoods! You added bacon with it which blows my mind, cause I’ve never tried such creative staff.
Good job, Adam:) Thank you for such receipt, will try my best to do so. If I do the same way, I will definitely let you know how it tastes and my satisfaction!
Wow! What a bowl of beauty! Great job!
The shrimp and grits look divine. The pictures are spectacular!
Shrimp and grits are heaven. This looks like a great recipe. Will be trying it. Thanks.