Shrimp & Grits

Shrimp and Grits with heirloom tomatoes and pimento peppers

My Dad grew up in Augusta, GA and I grew up in Maryland, which is technically (and definitively) below the Mason-Dixon line. So, I like to consider myself half-southern. My annual visits to Grandma’s house have built in me a deep-seated love for pulled pork barbecue (Georgia- / Carolina-style, of course), fried chicken, baked macaroni & cheese, and all the other things fried, slow-cooked, and/or loaded with butter/cream. Shrimp & Grits, however, can be miraculously healthy in comparison to the indulgences listed above. You can flavor it any way you want, using hot peppers or fruit or meat or even just extra butter.

The flavor in this version comes from hot peppers and Old Bay, a spice that you swear by if you’re from the DC area (or at least the mid-Atlantic), or, one you’ve never heard of if you’re not. For those not on the Acela route, it’s a spice you’d probably recognize as the main flavoring in crab cakes. In Maryland we throw it on all kinds of seafood as well as chicken, french fries, popcorn, potato chips, etc. Good stuff.

For those not familiar with grits, you may recognize them by their other name: polenta. Whatever you call it, it’s a thick, corn-based porridge that’s usually served with some kind of meat or egg or flavoring. Every culture in the world has some kind of starchy porridge that the poorer people (often the best, most creative cooks by necessity) eat with a scant amount of meat in order to make that meat go further – fufu in Africa, poi in Hawaii, etc. In the American south, it’s grits. You can buy the instant version, which are ready quicker, but they’re bleached and don’t turn out as creamy as the version that takes a little while longer (which I used here).

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Shrimp, shelled and de-veined
• 1 T. Old Bay seasoning
• 2-3 medium-sized tomatoes, diced (I used 3 different colors of heirloom tomato)
• 1 hot pepper, seeded and diced (I used a pimento in this one, but a jalapeno or serrano would work too)
• 1 medium-sized sweet onion, diced (I like Maui or Vidalia) or a few smaller ones (e.g., shallots)
• At least 1 T. butter, but you can easily use a whole stick
• 1 c. Grits
• 3 c. milk
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt & pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. Rinse and pat dry the shrimp. Cover them in the Old Bay seasoning and put them back in the fridge
2. Prepare the grits according to the packaging (whether you got the Quick version of the real version), but use milk instead of water – it’s much creamier that way. I use skim milk, but any kind will do. This is basically the same way you cook rice on the stove – add the grits and water/milk, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until done. If you’d like, fold some more butter into the grits a tablespoon at a time
3. While the grits are simmering, melt the butter in a large frying pan and sautee the onion, garlic, and hot pepper. Once the onions are soft and translucent, throw in the shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes or until they are opaque
4. Ladle the grits into bowls, top with the shrimp/onions/garlic/peppers and the fresh diced tomatoes and serve immediately with some salt & pepper and hot sauce on the side

Options:

• Let’s start with the obvious – bacon. Cut some up and then fry the pieces with the shrimp to give them a smoky, sweet, bacony twist, or add the bacon bits just before plating so that the shrimp aren’t overwhelmed by bacon grease
• Cheese! Shred some cheddar or smoked gouda (or anything else, really) over the finished product or mixed into the grits
• Add some corn and/or black beans to make it more southwestern, or skip the hot pepper to make it more southern
• My Dad likes his grits with an egg (barely) fried over easy, a practice I’m only now learning to appreciate after loving gently poached eggs in eggs benedict – same idea at a fraction of the cost. So, feel free to throw a fried egg on top of your shrimp and grits, or skip the shrimp altogether (especially if you’re a vegetarian that eats eggs)
• Add some greens – braised collard greens or kale would be the southern way to go, but you can also use spinach or chard
• Add a roasted veggie puree to the grits. When I made this dish, my friend Doug made some baked sweet potato fries that I ended up mashing into my grits after I’d finished my shrimp and it was amazing – definitely worth trying more deliberately some time

The Basics – Shrimp:

• When you buy shrimp, they’re classified by size according to how many fit in a pound. 51-60 are pretty small, 21-25 are jumbo, etc. The ones I used here are U15, meaning that there are less than 15 per pound
• If you’re buying them at the seafood counter of a grocery store, buy the ones that are untouched – unshelled, un-deveined, etc – and then have them shell and devein them. It’s free! If they’re shelled and deveined before you buy them (esp. before freezing), it probably happened a long time ago, which can mean less flavor and lame texture. Deveining removes the black/brown vein running along the top of the shrimp. This is actually the shrimp’s digestive tract… I don’t think I need to spell out why it’s black/brown. With smaller shrimp it’s less important to devein, but with the large ones you should definitely have it done at the store. It takes some complicated tools to devein without destroying the shrimp, but a paring knife will do in a pinch – if you’re a wiz with chopsticks, you can try using those too
• If you’re buying fresh shrimp, the shells should look almost clear. Use them within 24 hours of buying them if they’re fresh – seafood, especially shellfish, goes bad quickly. Shellfish in particular can pick up some pretty nasty bugs, even in just a day or two in the fridge
• When you’re grilling shrimp, you have to have something on them so they don’t burn or stick to the grill. Luckily, the shell will do just fine. If you hate shelling shrimp right before you eat them, you can give a peeled shrimp a coat of butter or olive oil. Alternatively, you can wrap it in something else that won’t burn or stick, like bacon or prosciutto – just remember to secure it with a toothpick or skewer first
• If you’re using toothpicks or wooden skewers, soak them in water before putting them on the grill so they don’t burn. If you do use skewers, slide all of the shrimp off of the skewer before eating them. It’s not corn on the cob
• Shrimp cook very quickly! They only need a minute or so per side on the grill, and they’ll keep cooking after being taken off the grill for a little bit. They also tend to cool down very quickly, so make sure the rest of the meal is ready to go when you put the shrimp on the heat
• No grill? Sautee / fry / boil em! Follow the same rules though – spray/brush/wrap them with something, don’t cook for more than a total of 3 or 4 minutes over high heat, and be ready to serve them immediately