I love shrimp & grits. Now as a country girl growing up I never had shrimp and grits. I had grits…lots of them…but never with shrimp. My country raising just didn’t have such fancy things. There were grits. There was fried shrimp…but beyond that nope.

I think the best shrimp and grits I ever had was in Charleston SC on an anniversary trip. We stayed at the Wentworth Mansion and they had a great restaurant on the property Circa 1886 .  Their shrimp and grits were soooo good. Maybe it was the fresh shrimp…maybe just that we were on a great getaway and food always tastes better on vacation. But my oh my.

After that I decided to try to make shrimp and grits at home. Our family loves Low Country boils, so shrimp wasn’t a foreign entity to me, but I had never cooked them this way.

I researched recipes and found this one on Paula Deen’s website. (I have never made any of Paula Deen’s recipes that weren’t delicious). So I gave it a go. I had to alter a bit due to what ingredients were available at my local grocery store, but I gotta say it’s pretty darn good.  The family loves it and I get asked for the recipe a lot. We love it so much that my daughter Lauren had shrimp and grits on her wedding menu!

So here’s the recipe. You can alter it as needed and it will still be fine. See my notes at the end about how I cook my grits. (translation more calories but really really good!)

Ingredients

2 servings cooked grits (I just make a big saucepan of grits. I love leftover grits but there are never leftovers of this recipe) I use stoneground white grits
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup diced tasso ham (Ok my store has never had this, but you can use a pack of prosciutto from the deli section or even pancetta. If you do just add some red pepper flakes to the recipe)
2 tablespoons diced leeks
2 tablespoons diced onion
2 tablespoons diced green pepper
20 medium to large peeled and de-veined with tails on shrimp
1 tablespoon white wine (If you don’t drink wine, you can skip this step…no sense buying a bottle for 1 tablespoon. Just deglaze with …
1 cup heavy cream
tops chopped green onion
salt to taste
to taste black pepper

Directions
Cook grits according to package directions, set aside and keep warm.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add tasso (or pancetta or prosciutto cut into small pieces) and saute until crisp. Add diced vegetables and saute until onions are translucent. Add shrimp and saute for 30-45 seconds or until pink.

Deglaze the pan with a little white wine. Slowly add the cream and let reduce until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the grits among two serving plates. Line plate edges with shrimp. Pour sauce over grits. Garnish with green onion tops. (This recipe makes more than two servings for us. As long as you make normal servings, you should be able to serve 4)

(I add the shrimp back to the sauce in the pan and then pour it over grits in the bowls)

You can make this recipe for a party and use as an appetizer by just using small shot glasses or mini bowls, add a few tablespoons of grits and a couple of shrimp with sauce.

Note for cooking grits…For extra creamy grits…cook with 1/2 water and 1/2 heavy cream. For extra extra creamy use all cream instead of water. You can also stir in your favorite cheese at the end to add flavor to the grits.

enjoy!

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