Shrimp and Grits Recipe

 

https://tasty.co/recipe/shrimp-and-grits

Anytime I am interested in looking at new recipes the one app I go to is the Tasty app. It is my favorite app that gives me a wide diverse range of recipes to choose from and at first I had a hard time picking one out. There were so many recipes that I wanted to try but I didn't want to test one that would a) require lots of ingredients, and b) cost a lot of money. I wanted to make something that would be affordable yet delicious, and this led me to my choice of shrimp and grits.

I have tried grits when I was younger, but I absolutely detested them due to the texture that they gave off. Since I am older now and they say that tastebuds always change I decided to give this a shot because it would be paired with something I love eating, shrimp. 

The one thing that I was finding challenging about this recipe was the grits. I have never made them, and I was afraid that I would either undercook or overcook them. But I am someone who follows the recipe minus opting out to use certain ingredients. Either way I was determined to test this recipe out and try to change my perspective towards grits. 

Now with the ingredients I chose not to use, I skipped out on the roasted corn and the red bell peppers. As you all know I am a picky vegetable eater, and these are two vegetables I will not eat even if it adds more to the recipe. The only thing I had to substitute was the sausage, it asked for andouille, but my grocery store was completely out of stock and therefore I chose to have the store brand smoked sausage. 

The first thing I did with this recipe was prep all of my ingredients. I chopped both the garlic and shallots, diced the sausage into cubes, shredded the cheddar cheese, and peeled the shrimp. Once I was done prepping, I got straight into cooking. I had two pans besides each other, one was for the grits and the other was for the sausage and the shrimp. 

Once the chicken stock started to boil, I poured in the grits and immediately started on cooking the sausage. The whole time I was anxious about the grits because I was not sure if they were going to be cooked right. I did what the recipe said and cooked it for six minutes like it said. Once the sausage was cooked, I got to cooking the shrimp and finally checked on the grits when the timer went off. I started to immediately panic because the bottom of the pan felt hard and burnt so I quickly added the heavy cream and cheese and began stirring. You would not believe the sigh of relief that I made that I realized I had not burned them and had stirred it just in time. 

Now, when it was time for plating, I tried my best to make it look picture perfect or appetizing enough to eat. The smell was there and was delicious, but I was worried about the taste. The only thing that was running through my mind was 'were the grits cooked all the way through?'. So, when it was finally time to try it out, I first tasted the Cajun seasoning of the shrimp, then the smokiness of the sausage kicked in and then I felt the texture of the grits. My mind was not sure if I was enjoying it or disliking it, so I took another bite and another until I was pretty much done with the plate.

My mom was the only person who tried this, she said that this being my first-time making grits I did a good job, and you can really taste the flavors. Her personal preference on the grits would be to make it a little thinner than thick like I had made it, but it was still good, nonetheless. Seasoning wise, I think it was the right amount, cook time wise, I would have cooked the grits in a smaller amount of time, maybe around 4 minutes so they aren't that thick. Everything about this dish was good and had a nice balance of spice and smokiness which is what I was hoping would be the outcome. 

Would I make this again? Absolutely. I may change some things along the way, but I would also only cook this on special occasions like a birthday or special celebration if someone was wanting this instead of going to spend $30 on a plate for it.