Shrimp and Grits

I know, a) I said that I would continue talking about food and wine pairings and I’ll get back to that and b) this isn’t exactly a topical Christmas dish. However, this is something that came up this week and I thought II‘d pass it along. You see, I keep trying to come up with stuff for Ms Cocktail. That’s why you’ll notice that most of my dishes do not have beef or pork in them. Ms Cocktail doesn’t eat them. She’s not a true vegetarian but it does kind of limit what I can make her for dinner. It also doesn’t help that like many people, we are often faced with a time crunch and can’t make really complicated, time consuming meals.

This week, I was looking for something simple that I could make for her and came across a recipe for shrimp and grits. I knew that this was a classic, southern dish. I also knew that Ms Cocktail is fond of both grits and shrimp. So, I figured out how to do it, then put my own spin on this dish. Altogether it takes about 45 minutes to make this and it came out so good that I thought I just had to share. I’ll be getting back to talking about food and wine pairing soon enough, especially since I’ve developed some classes along these lines and will be offering them to the public soon.

Shrimp and Grits

4 cups water
salt and pepper
1 cup stone-ground grits
3 Tbs butter
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (8 oz before shredding)
1 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 Tbs duck fat
6 sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
4 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbs chopped parsley
1 cups thinly sliced scallions
1 large clove of garlic, minced

Bring water to a boil and add salt and pepper. Add the grits and cook until the water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cheese.

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Melt the duck fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink. Add the lemon juice, sun dried tomatoes, parsley, scallions and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes.

Spoon the grits into a serving bowl. Spoon the shrimp mixture over the top and serve immediately.