Decadent Shrimp & Grits In A Spicy Tomato-Cream Sauce

Confession: I don’t usually eat grits. It’s not that I don’t like them. They just rarely give what they are supposed to give. I expect creamy and smooth and usually end up with bland, watery and gritty (bleck). I’m also a sugar and butter in my grits kind of girl (don’t judge me) so savory grits never really appealed to me. Until I made this recipe, i had no idea of how good savory grits could be.

The beautiful thing about this Pan-African foodie journey is I never know where it will take me. This time it took me to the low country where shrimp & grits is a basically a staple on the menu. I wasn’t fully sold on the idea of shrimp and grits because most recipes include bacon and y’all know aint no pork on my fork. So I had to come up with a way to make this dish so that I would enjoy it. I made this dish with a creamy, garlic- tomato sauce, using high quality grits by a Black Owned Brand called Southern Queen, wild caught shrimp with the tails on, and fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano. This dish was so good and proved once again that high quality ingredients and time always yields the best food!

Decadent Shrimp & Grits in a Spicy Tomato-Cream Sauce

Tender shrimp and creamy grits in a spicy tomato, garlic, cream sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 1 lb shrimp de-veined, i kept shrimp tails on for extra flavor but you can remove them
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 6 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3/4 cup parmigiano reggiano
• 1/4 cup marscapone cheese
• 6 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 1 cup grits I used Southern Queen brand
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water water to be used as needed
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp red pepper chili flakes

Instructions

For the Grits

• Add chicken broth to pot on medium heat and bring to a boil
• Add grits to boiling broth, stir, turn down to the lowest setting and cover pot
• Stir grits every 5 minutes to ensure grits don't stick to the pot, (about 30 minutes to an hour)
• After 30 minutes or when grits are almost cooked, add butter, heavy cream, and marscapone cheese.
• Continue to cook until you achieve the desired texture (i cooked mine for about an hour)
• Add parmigiano reggiano and stir. Turn off heat and cover pot

For the Sauce

• Season shrimp
• Heat olive oil in pan on medium-high heat
• When oil is hot, sear shrimp 1-2 minutes on each side, set aside. Adjust heat to medium
• In the same pan you cooked the shrimp, add remaining olive oil and saute onion and red chili pepper flakes until translucent
• Add garlic, cook until fragrant, then add tomato paste
• Mix garlic, onion, tomato paste in the pan for 2-3 minutes until tomato paste gets darker in color
• Add heavy cream to the pan, mix well with tomato paste mixture, and simmer until the sauce thickens. Adjust heat to low setting
• Add shrimp back to the pan and mix into the sauce
• Allow shrimp to simmer in the sauce until fully cooked.
• Top grits with shrimp, more sauce, and remaining parmigiano reggiano
• Enjoy!

Notes

The longer these grits cook the creamier the texture. For this recipe I cooked the grits for about an hour but they should be fully cooked after 30 minutes.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: grits, homecook, homecooked, homemade, shrimp