I’ve been wanting to try my hand at shrimp and grits for a while, but just haven’t taken the time to come up with a recipe. But, I finally took the time today – for brunch. I tend to think that shrimp and grits are the perfect brunch food!

I tried to think about all the things that I loved about all (there have been a lot!) the shrimp and grits dishes I’ve had – and, I think that I came up with a winner of a recipe, combining the flavors that I like most!

Starting with shrimp, bacon (I actually also used some sausage too – as I had a small piece left in the refrigerator, but won’t normally include that) and all the ingredients needed for my jalapeno cheesy grits.

I forgot to include it in the picture of the ingredients, but I also used the juice of one lemon in the sauce.

The shrimp won’t take long to cook – so start with the grits. I used old fashioned grits for mine. I cooked the grits as normal 4:1 ratio of water to grits (with a bit of salt). When the grits were almost done, I added the butter, heavy cream and cheese. Whisking it in, to keep it all smooth!

For the shrimp and sauce, I started by cooking my bacon and sausage – then removed it from the pan (leaving the grease in the pan).

I let my bacon and sausage sit on a plate with a paper towel, so that it wouldn’t get ‘soggy’.

Then I was ready to cook the shrimp. I decide to do a light ‘breading’ on my shrimp, so I tossed it in a plastic bag with flour, Old Bay seasoning and paprika.

Once the shrimp was coated, I put it in the hot pan with oil. Cooking on each side for 2-3 minutes. You’ll want to be sure not to over cook your shrimp, so have everything ready to go before putting the shrimp in the pan. Nothing is worse than chewy shrimp, in my opinion.

After the shrimp was done, I returned the bacon and sausage to the pan and mixed it up (it’s fine of some of the breading falls off of the shrimp – the breading is really just for flavor and any that falls off will just add to the flavor of the sauce).

Then I started to build the sauce – to the shrimp and bacon mixture, I added in the broth, lemon juice, parsley and the reserved flour mixture – stirring to coat the shrimp with the sauce. I added 1/2 of the green onions on top of the shrimp and sauce and we were ready to eat!

To serve, add the shrimp over the grits and garnish with green onions. The perfect brunch food!

Shrimp and Grits

Total time for recipe – approximately 45 minutes

Grits
1 cup of grits
4 cups of water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
approx 1/3 cup (1/2 a container) Smoky Jalapeno Alouette cheese

Shrimp and Sauce
4 pieces of thick sliced bacon, cut up into bite size pieces
3/4 – 1 lb shrimp
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp paprika
2/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
3 green onions, chopped
juice of one lemon

Prepare grits, as follows:

• Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add salt and whisk in grits.
• Reduce to simmer, for 15 minutes
• Add in butter, heavy cream and cheese (stir with whisk), reduce heat and cover

Shrimp and Sauce:

• Cook bacon in skillet, once done, remove (leaving oil).
• Prepare shrimp by tossing in a bag with the flour, Old Bay seasoning and paprika.
• Remove shrimp and add to pan (do not discard remaining flour mixture)
• Cook on each side 2-3 minutes (shrimp doesn’t take long to cook).
• Return bacon to pan
• Add in chicken broth, lemon juice, parsley and remaining flour mixture – stir to coat shrimp with the sauce
• Add 1/2 of the green onions and stir

Serve over grits and top with remaining green onions for garnish