# Shrimp & Grits



## Bocefus (Apr 19, 2010)

I need a few recipes to try. Please post how you cook yours.


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

use chicken or fish stock instead of water with your grits.
we usually add cheese and diced tomatos or peppers to our grits.
grilled shrimp adds a nice flavor too.


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## Paymaster (Jan 22, 2009)

My way : shrimp sauteed;olive oil, garlic and shallots sauteed them with salt and pepper add shrimp until barely pink. Remove shrimp and add white wine and lemon juice and simmer for a few minutes and add shrimp back to finish cooking, sprinkle with parsley . We don't cook the shrimp in the grits just add them when the grits are done.

Grits themselves were cooked with a tiny bit of liquid smoke and lots of cheese added. Just how I do it.


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

My Way; 

18-24 Large Shrimp, 4 oz - Applewood Smoked Bacon (diced), 4 oz - Sliced Mushrooms, 6 oz - Diced Tomatoes, 1 Clove - Diced Garlic, 5 Tablespoons -Blackening Season, 4 Tablespoons - Green Onion, 1-2 Cups - Heavy Cream, 4 oz - Parmesan Cheese,3 oz -Vegetable Oil. 1 cup, white wine. (Optional).

Over high heat add oil and bacon to a sauté pan. Cook bacon until it starts to crisp. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, blackening season, shrimp and toss. Continue to sauté the items until shrimp are ½ done about one minute. Deglaze the pan with white wine (If you use it) and add the green onions. Once the alcohol has cooked off add cream and parmesan cheese. Stir until mixture thickens and then pour over freshly made cheese grits.

Cheese Grits.
I peel the shrimp, and boil the shells. Use this water for your grits. You can use store bought cheese grits but I like stone ground. but follow the directions for the amount of water. I also use choped pepper jack cheese that add to the grits after they cook. about half a block.


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

My way takes some time and prep, but they are always a real treat.
For the shrimp I use Alton Brown's version of broiling them in the oven. Do a search on the Food Network site.
You brine them for a short period of time, toss them, shell on, in some olive oil and garlic and sea salt and other spices and broil.
Follow his directions to the T and you will love them.
For the grits I do as someone else above mentioned; After the shrimp are cooked, I peel them and simmer the shells in water for their flavor, and then use that water for the grits. 
When the grits are done I mix in a little roasted red pepper, some finely diced sauteed onion, some garlic, and whatever else I feel like, mix it all together and them pack the grits into straight sided water glasses that have been sprayed with a little cooking spray.
Refrigerate overnight or for as long as it takes for them to become solid.
Shake the now solid tube of grits out of the water glass, and slice into 1/2" thick rounds.
You can now either sautee them up in a pan until golden on each side, or do them out on the grill until browned.
Then I make a seafood based cream sauce, put the cooked shrimp in at the very end just to heat through, and sppon some shrimp and sauce over the grilled or sauteed grits.
Top with a little parsley, lemon zest and freshly grated hard cheese and you are good to go.
Not a quickie, but sure worth it in the end...


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

How bout the recipe for the seafood based cream sauce. Thanks.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

tj, I ain't never been a fan of grits, but that sounds good enough to rethink my taste. Will try it this winter. Thanks for the recipe.


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

wdbrand said:


> How bout the recipe for the seafood based cream sauce. Thanks.


OK,
Nothing really rocket science, it is pretty much just a standard cream sauce, bechamel if you like, that starts with a stock made from either shrimp, or fish leftovers, some white wine, shallots, parsley, black pepper, chives, whatever is at hand really. You can even use chicken stock to start if you like. 
I usually kinda make it up as I go along, after starting with the basic bechamel. Lemon, dill, if you want it a little spicy I like a teaspoon of dijon mustard. If the shrimp are going to be spicy you can add in a couple of dashes of Old Bay. No Rules, once you are past the bechamel as a starting point... 
The single best Bechamel recipe that I have ever used, the one that has become my standard, is by Jacques Pepin. A quick Google search should turn it up. It is the classic base for about a billion French sauces. You can do it with cheese, with mustard, with white wine, (I actually like to use a good white vermouth when cooking, Boissiere is easily the best...) the variations are endless. 
Master classic Bechamel and then go from there...
Hope that helps...


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

And if you like ths sound of those grilled grits there is a ton of other things that you can do with them.
One of my other faves is to slice a piece of goat cheese, put on top of the grits while they are still on the grill, and then top with some chopped black and green olives.
Let the chevre get a little warm and pull them off and serve.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

Thanks tj. You jest went way over my head on the Chef Tell deal. I'm more of a ole country boy that's too old to learn fine cuisune cooking. Redeye gravy, biscuits, poke chops and mashed taters is my main dish. I do grill and seafood is a mainstay, the reason for a simple sauce. Fergot a pot of beans cooked slow on a wood stove or a pot of tater soup.


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

If you can make Red Eye Gravy you can make Bechamel. 
Nothing but reading and following directions. 
Seriously, it is a piece of cake.
Too tired right now, but I will pull it up tomorrow and look at it, and as a good buddy of mine used to say, "Git it down to where the goats can get at it"...
Ain't nothing but stirring and adding in the right stuff at the right time.
Remember, these are recipies that got started when people were cooking in cast iron over coals in a fireplace. 
I've been around a lot of hot shot chefs in my day, and I can promise you, very few of them would qualify as rocket scientists...


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

And I'll just add...
Tying a proper shock leader is a *lot* harder than making a simple cream sauce...
Seriously!


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## tjbjornsen (Oct 31, 2009)

OK,
Classic Bechamel Sauce;
For 1 cup of sauce use the following measurements;
2 teaspoons of flour and 2 teaspoons of butter -> 1 cup of milk.
You can vary the amount of butter and flour to make a thicker sauce, but they always have to be in the same proportion.
Take your butter and put in a bowl and allow to soften.
When softened, mix in an equal amount of flour, and mix well with a fork until smooth.
Put the cup of milk in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil.
With a whisk or fork, mix in the butter and flour mixture a little bit at a time, making sure to stir vigorously until smooth.
Bring it back to a slow boil on low heat, and let simmer for 4-5 minutes. Low heat is the key, you do not want to burn it on the bottom.
Season with salt and pepper and a little nutmeg if you have it.
When the sauce is as you want it, cut a couple more small pieces of butter and lay them on top of the sauce and allow to melt, tilting the sauce gently so the melted butter is covering the top of the sauce. This will keep it from forming a skin on top. When you are ready to serve, take a fork and mix the melted butter in.
Easy as Red-Eye Gravy!
To this you can add just about anything to make the sauce what you want. A small amount of cheese, some parsley, some chives, some dijon mustard, a little lemon zest, a little Old Bay, whatever you feel like.
But that is about as easy a sauce as you will ever make and it is the foundation of just about every single French cream-based sauce out there.
If you like you can vary the amount of milk, and substitue fish stock, shrimp stock, whatever. If you want it thicker and creamier you can use half and half or straight cream.
Just always keep the proportions of butter->flour equal and you will be in good shape.
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
And here is the link to Alton Brown's Broiled Shrimp Recipe;
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-shrimp-cocktail-recipe/index.html


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## yakomatic (Jan 9, 2008)

*shrimp and grits*

Found these recipes in 1989 and I've stuck with it since:

Shrimp (and grits) (from Neal & Perry: Good Old Grits Cookbook)


Ingredients:

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
6 slices bacon
peanut oil
2 cups sliced fresh mushroom
1 cup sliced scallions
1 large clove garlic, crushed in a press
4 teaspoons lemon juice
dash of tobacco sauce
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cooking:
1)	rinse shrimp and pat dry on paper toweling
2) dice bacon and fry lightly in a large skillet until browned at the edges but not too crisp. Drain bacon on paper towel and put aside.
3)	Add peanut oil to bacon fat (I usually use just 1-2 tablespoon bacon fat) to make a thin layer of oil that covers the bottom of the pan. Heat until quite hot. Add shrimp and cook briefly until they color on both sides. Sdd mushrooms and sauté, stirring frequently & cook for about 4 mins until they start to “wilt”. Mix in scallion and bacon, then add garlic. Season with lemon juice, Tabasco, parsley, salt and pepper. Serve over cheese grits (or rice if you must).
4)	
Cheese grits
1 cup stone-ground grits (NOT instant!)
4 cups water
½ tsp. salt or to taste
2 TBSP unsalted butter

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
option- pinch of cayenne paper, white pepper, a whisp of ground nutmeg

1) rinse grits in a couple changes of water

2) bring water to boil, add salt, slowly add grits

3) cook at a simmer and stir frequently

5)	when done (30-40 mins), stir in butter, cheese


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