Slammin’ Shrimp and Grits

Shrimp and grits are the best thing about brunch to me. Savory and filling, but not to the point of feeling like I’ll burst, it has always been one of my go-to choices. Any decent restaurant worth visiting will have a great shrimp and grits on its brunch menu. I know that during these quarantine times, many of us are missing going out for brunch with friends. With this recipe, you can bring brunch right to your front door!

This is a very basic shrimp and grits recipe. Following the instructions on the nose will of course give you a great meal. It also leaves the possibility of you making little changes to make it an AMAZING meal. I have also included my foolproof recipe and tips for making grits, just in case you didn’t grow up cooking them and may be unfamiliar with them. You can add spice to spice up the dish, play around with proteins (I’ve added crab meat and yes, it’s just as great as it sounds). Either way, this recipe will make you question ever leaving the house for shrimp and grits again.

Yield: 2 servings

Prep time: 5 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

½ lb large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ lb andouille or smoked sausage, sliced into ¼ in pieces
½ cup grits (can use instant or stone ground)
2 cups chicken broth or stock
½ cup milk or cream
½ cup water
¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
¼ cup diced red pepper
¼ cup diced green pepper
¼ cup diced onion
2-4 cloves garlic, grated
4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
¼ tsp oregano
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Kosher salt, black pepper

Directions

1. In a medium sized pot, bring 1 cup chicken broth, ½ cup milk, and ½ cup water to a gentle boil. Be sure that the milk does not begin to scald and boil over. Pour grits into boiling liquid and stir. Let boil for one minute, then reduce heat to low. Grits will continue to simmer for the duration of remaining cook time. Be sure to stir grits frequently, so they do not stick to the pot. 
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and brown sausage pieces on both sides. Remove sausage from pan.
3. In the sausage drippings, sauté green pepper, red pepper, and onion until they begin to soften.
4. While the vegetables are cooking, in a small pot, melt butter over medium-low heat (do not melt the butter too fast, or it will begin to brown). Stir grated garlic into the melted butter and let simmer together over low heat. Do not turn off the range until right before using the butter (see later instructions). The longer you let the butter/garlic simmer together, the better tasting your garlic butter will be. 
5. In the skillet, push the cooking vegetables to the outskirts of the pan. In the center of the pan, sear the shrimp on both sides for about 2 minutes per side. You may have to sear your shrimp in batches, so as to not crowd the pan. If you need to sear in batches, remove the seared shrimp from the pan to make room for the next batch of shrimp. 
6. When all the shrimp are seared, add them back to the pan. Season shrimp and veggies to taste with salt and pepper. 
7. Turn off your garlic butter. Add half of the garlic butter to your shrimp and veggies and stir to mix everything together.
8. Pour in the remaining cup of chicken broth and add the sausages back into the pan. Season with cayenne pepper and oregano and stir. Reduce heat to medium-low and let everything warm through, for about 3-5 minutes. 
9. As your shrimp and sausage mixture is heating through, turn off your grits. Add remaining garlic butter and cheddar cheese. Season grits to taste with salt and pepper. 
10. To serve: place grits into bowl. Spoon in shrimp, sausage, and some veggies. Finish off with spoonfuls of broth that you ladle over food.

Recipe Tips

• While any size shrimp is fine to use, I prefer to use large or jumbo shrimp.
• This recipe was written using beef polska kielbasa. Any smoked or Cajun sausage is fine, whether it is beef, pork, or any other type of meat. Keep in mind that leaner meats (such as chicken or turkey) do not produce as many drippings as beef does when cooked. You may have to add in an additional ½ tbsp or so of oil to sauté veggies in to offset this.
• Cheddar cheese is a very traditional cheese to use in shrimp and grits, but you can use others as well. I have used American cheese and Parmesan cheese in the past (in addition to cheddar) and was pleased with results. 
• I prefer a lot of broth in my shrimp and grits, and also prefer a thinner broth. When adding chicken broth to the cooked shrimp and veggies, you can adjust how much you add in (or omit completely if you do not desire a broth). 
• Chicken broth and stock, as well as milk and cream, can be used interchangeably in this recipe (hence why I listed both in the ingredients list). It will all deliver very similar results, however grits may be creamier if using cream instead of milk. 
• If you do not want to use milk, you can replace the amount of milk with more water or more chicken broth. If you want, you can make the grits will ALL water, or ALL chicken broth. 
• This recipe can be adjusted for various amounts of servings. ¼ cup of dried grits is typically one serving and will need to be cooked in 1 cup of liquid. You can multiply from there to determine the amount of grits and liquid you’ll need. 
• My ratio of chicken broth to milk to water is 2:1:1. This will also help with adjusting portion sizes. For example, if I wanted to make one serving of grits, I’d use ½ cup chicken broth, ¼ cup milk, ¼ cup water. If I wanted to make 4 servings of grits, I’d use 2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup milk, 1 cup water