A Southern staple – fit for a president
Grits
Ingredients
1 cup Colonial Mill yellow grits
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt
8 oz. cream cheese
½ cup heavy cream
½ stick of butter
Preparation
In a medium stock pot, add chicken stock and salt and bring to boil on medium-high heat, whisk in grits and turn down to medium-low, cover, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.
Add cream cheese, heavy cream and butter. Set aside.
Shrimp sauce
Ingredients
3 strips bacon
½ sweet onion diced
½ red pepper diced
4 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup of beer or white wine
½ cup cream
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1 lb large fresh peeled SC shrimp
½ cup diced fresh tomatoes
Finely chopped parsley.
Preparation
Render bacon on medium-high heat in a big sauté pan — drain half of the grease — save bacon to crumble on top.
Add butter to pan and sauté onion and peppers about 3-4 minutes.
Whisk in flour, stirring constantly to make a roux to a nutty brown color.
Whisk in wine or beer and cream and bring to a good simmer. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add raw shrimp and cook until the shrimp are pink and done, about 3-5 minutes. Don’t overcook them!
Spoon grits into serving dish.
Ladle shrimp sauce over grits and crumble bacon, diced tomatoes and a little parsley on top.