If I were a shrimp I would pray that this would be my end. Blackened butterflied shrimp, with the creamiest grits of all time, topped with a buffalo blue cheese sauce. Supported by butter roasted asparagus topped with goat cheese. Finally to finish it off, I added fresh diced green tomatoes. This is my take on the southern classic Shrimp-n-Grits, and of course its not at all traditional. That's not how I roll.
Ingredients for grits:
- Grits
- Butter half pound
- Salt
- Pepper
- Heavy Cream 1 small carton
Lets start with the grits, nothing instant. Instant grits are a bad word where I come from ( almost as bad as margarine). For this dish I used stone ground yellow grits, however, any non instant grits will work. The trick with grits is simple, low and slow. The recipe for theses is very easy. Measure grits to water ratio based on the directions on the back, or do what I do, which is just pour some grits in the water and add a lot of butter. After the grits have cooked forever, maybe an hour, hour-and-a-half pour in about a small carton of heavy cream. keep stirring until the grits get really thick. If they're runny, it's hard to form them into balls.
Ingredients for shrimp:
- 1 lbs large shrimp
- 1/4 lbs soft butter
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 Tblsp granulated garlic
- 1 tspn Garlic Powder
- 3 Tblsp Blackening seasoning
- 1 tspn salt
- 2 tspn pepper
- 1Tblspn cayenne
The shrimp are the ones that may be tricky, watch your fingers. You will need them to complete recipe. After cleaning the shells, and deveining the shrimp. Make an incision on the vein line, be sure to go through shrimp leaving the tail shell in tacked and that you don't cut all the way through the front either. When you lay the shrimp vein side down so the shrimp takes a scorpion like esthetic, there should be a small hole between the neck region and tail shell. Mix the salt, pepper, cayenne, and both garlics with the butter and white wine in a small mixing bowl. Separately blacken the shrimp then mix in butter marinade let chill in the fridge fro 20 minutes. When the grits are close to being done, oil a cookie sheet or casserole dish with a light coat of olive oil and place in a 350 degree oven for about eight minutes or until cooked through.
Ingredients for Buffalo blue cheese sauce:
- 1/4 lbs butter
- 1/4 cup of white wine
- 1/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles
- 2tspn crushed pepper
- 2 Tblsp cayenne
- 3tspn garlic powder
- 2tspn salt
- 2tspn white pepper
I'm going to make this part easy. Melt the butter, add the wine and seasonings. whisk pretty thoroughly. when the sauce has come to a boil add the blue cheese, and mix like hell, it will separate.
Ingredients for asparagus:
- 2 bunches of thin asparagus
- 1/2 lbs soft butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cayenne
- Garlic powder
In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients together. Be sure to be gentle, the asparagus will break......just sayin. season to taste, I purposely didn't put amounts. Put in a 9"x13" casserole dish and cover with foil. place in a 400 degree oven for 1 minutes. Remove the foil, but the oven on broil. Cook for another 5 minutes, pull the dish out and let it rest for five minutes.
Take the shrimp lay them on a plate, and a dollop of grits in the hole under the scorpion looking tail. Add a drizzle of the buffalo blue cheese sauce over the grits. Using a pair of tongs, grab a portion of asparagus, and spin as you pick it up and lay in the center of the plate, place a small amount of goat cheese on the asparagus. Dice up one medium sized green tomato and use as garnish, as this will add a pleasant bitterness to the dish.
Cook it, Love it, Live it!
