Tuesday: Cheesy Grits and Shrimp

This recipe is for SisterC: Appreciator of fine foods southern. 

It seems my posts often have grits in them.  Strange, huh?  What southerner would talk about grits all the time. 

I made this recipe last Friday.  I had been waiting all week to make it and spent most of the day dreaming of the shrimp I was going to buy at Winn-Dixie.  Cajun steamed shrimp! YUM!  I went straight to Winn-Dixie after work only to find they were out of the shrimp and I was going to have to  settle for the frozen-in-a-bag kind.  They were okay but if you make this recipe, I would recommend either freshly steamed or boiled shrimp.  The frozen will just never be the same.

Recipe for grits adapted from Rachael Ray's Everyday Menu Planner:

Bring 5 cups of water and 1 12-ounce can of 2% evaporated milk to a boil.  Lower heat.  Add 1-1/2 cups quick cooking grits. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Stir in 1-1/2 cups extra-sharp cheddar cheese and 5 chopped scallion greens, salt and pepper to taste.

To be truthful, the next time I cook this, I will leave the cheese out.  I used extra-sharp cheddar and still didn't feel it left much flavor in the grits.  The flavor would have been just as good without the cheese and would be less likely to grow my butt.

For the shrimp:

If you are using fresh steamed or boiled shrimp, just peel and place them on top of the cheesy grits and enjoy.  If you have been reduced to frozen-in-the-bag shrimp like me, saute them in some olive oil with your seasoning of choice (mine is Tony Chachere's, of course) and some chopped scallions and then place on top of the grits.

As a side, I had cornbreaded okra sauteed in olive oil.  Sinful, I know but you can't really eat grits and shrimp without fried okra.

This recipe would have been absolutely delicious with REAL shrimp.  It is a good thing I liked it because there were so many leftovers I had grits for breakfast and lunch for several days afterwards and still ended up throwing some away.  The trials of having a small family of two.

Enjoy, SisterC.  You won't be seeing grits here for a while now.....at least until next week.