Extra Good Shrimp & Grits

A free CFF recipe today - because vacation energy!

Hello! I’m off on our honeymoon right now, but I am beyond thrilled to get you some fresh new recipe content!! I’m like a shark, if they aren’t in motion they die. And if I’m not publishing recipes, I fear I do not know who I even am anymore.

But thank you for being so gracious with all my wedding content (two months of wedding cakes? what. was. she. thinking.), and so gracious with me taking a bit of time off to get married! It was an absolute dream of a wedding weekend. Simple, like us, but filled with more love than I could imagine. There was also shrimp and grits, which is how we got here.

So I’m excited to share the latest episode of Cooking For Fun: Shrimp and Grits!

You can watch the full episode here.

When we went to our wedding tasting, I was sadly not that impressed. Our venue was beautiful but required that you choose a certain caterer, so I resigned myself to knowing our wedding might not have the *best* food, but at least that food would be ours.

Turned out, after requesting roast chicken and shrimp & grits, our wedding catering team went hard. Who knew they loved shrimp and grits as much as I did??

Now here’s the thing, my wedding shrimp and grits were pescatarian while still being as traditional as they come, yet this recipe for shrimp and grits takes another route. We’re going a little bit untraditional, with bright, punchy flavors and a whole lot of vegetables. A stewy but summery dish that will taste good on grits, but also on jacket potatoes, grilled flatbreads, or all the way to fried polenta. We’re breaking tradition, okay??

A marinated shrimp - they key to what makes these shrimp extra good (a phrase you’ll hear countless times in this newsletter, prepare yourselves) is the hit of the marinade. Shrimp easily overcook into a rubbery mess, and a greek yogurt marinade with a mix of smoked paprika and Aleppo pepper helps lock in the shrimp’s tenderness while the sugars in the dairy caramelize the outside of the shrimp into a nice sear. It takes minutes, and also gets us started with a good fond. Which…if you haven’t heard of fond, welcome to our world.

Fond! A horrible word for a great thing. This is the blackened bits of flavor that stick to the bottom of the pan. And you aren’t doing anything wrong when these appear. I like to kick start a recipe with something that needs browning so I can gather as much flavorful fond as I can, then deglaze the pan so that it melts right into the sauce. So! Fond! Embrace it.

Two gentle kinds of acid - Ina Garten says everything needs an “edge.” Samin Nosrat said Salt Fat Acid Heat. It’s a known fact that cooking needs acid, so instead of two sharp acids at once, I opted for two mellow ones. Read: preserved lemon and white wine. Preserved lemon is close to a pickled lemon, salty and citrusy, but not as sharp as lemon juice. You can eat them whole and be just fine, yet cooked down they are even mellower. Wine lends its own gentle acid to things, and I know many people don’t like keeping wine in the house, but using a can of unoaked wine brightens up this recipe, and then you’re one and done. So, we’re a canned wine household now.

Not a roux but a stew - While traditional shrimp and grits tend to be roux-based, this one is lightened up and more stew-based. You can finish with either vegetable stock, coconut milk or heavy cream, depending on your lightness preference (stock for the lightest, cream for the thickest). All options keep the mixture thick, but still mimic the richness that comes with a roux. Yet instead of building flavor through fat and flour, I opt to build it through vegetables and acid. And…. butter of course.

This week’s recipe is paywall-free because 1) I’m a woman in love and 2) I’m very invested in ideas for your future summer tomatoes. If you are interested in accessing the entire “Cooking For Fun” archive, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. If you are already a paid subscriber, thank you for your support!! You are the reason I can produce these long-form videos on a regular basis <3

The Recipe!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the grits

• 1 cup of white grits

• 6 cups water

• Diamond Crystal kosher salt

For the shrimp

• 1 pound jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined

• 1 tablespoon dried Aleppo pepper flakes

• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika

• 2 teaspoons grated garlic

• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon skyr or Greek yogurt

• 3 cups cherry tomatoes or 3 globe tomatoes, 20 ounces / 567 grams

• 1/2 small preserved lemon, I like the Mina brand

• 1 medium white onion, 12 ounces / 340 grams

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons salted butter

• 2-3 small Birdseye chilies, note*** only use these if you like heat

• 1 cup dry, unoaked white wine, 8 ounces / 227 grams

• 1/3 cup either heavy cream (if you like it rich), vegetable stock (if you prefer it light), or coconut milk (for somewhere in between)

• Tender herbs such as chives, mint, scallions, for garnishing

METHOD

In a medium pot add 1 cup of grits and 6 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, reduce to a simmer and season with a few big pinches of salt, about 1/2 heaping teaspoon. Cover and let the grits cook for 30-35 minutes or until thickened, check periodically to stir the grits.

In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper, 1 tablespoon sweet paprika, 2 teaspoons freshly grated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt. Let this sit in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Dice or halve the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, set aside. Thinly slice the 1/2 preserved lemon and 1 white onion.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sear the shrimp for 3 minutes on one side or until they release from the pan. Flip and cook them another 90 seconds or until they are pink, opaque, and slightly charred. Do this in two batches and transfer the shrimp to a bowl. Set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of salted butter to the pan. Swirl it around to pick up the fond left over from the shrimp. It should scrape up easily.

Add the preserved lemon and cook in the butter for a few seconds until coated, then add the onion and sliced Birdseye chilies and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-11 minutes or until both the onion and lemon are softened, and the lemon is starting to caramelize at the edges.

Then add the tomatoes and cook another 5-6 minutes, or until burst. Pour in 1 cup of dry white wine and let simmer for 5-6 minutes or until reduced by half.

During this time, continue to check on your grits, stirring occasionally so nothing clumps at the bottom. Taste and season with salt as needed.

Add 1/4 cup of heavy cream, or coconut milk, or vegetable stock to the shrimp mixture, depending on if you’d like it lighter or thicker, and swirl. Add in the shrimp and let them warm up for a few minutes in the sauce.

Serve the shrimp stew over the grits and top with thinly sliced tender herbs.

And that’s it for this vacation week! I know I’m an absolute sap on here, but I do want to thank you all for reading every week. It makes me happy to see these recipes make it to your table.

Please make this with all your summer tomatoes, and I’ll see you next week!

Xoxo,

Married_Snacks