Shrimp and polenta ... errrr, I mean grits

I begin this blog entry with a bit of a controversial subject. It has caused a lot of arguements between my friend, Barre, and I. It is a "family" issue. The issue? Are grits and polenta siblings or cousins? She has her evidence that they are cousins; and I have mine that says they are siblings. Neither of us is budging and it might get ugly. But the one thing we can both agree on is that whatever you call it (it being grits/polenta), it is delicious.

The reason we got talking about grits is that she recently returned from her brother's wedding in the deep south and proclaimed that she had the best shrimp and grits ever ... EVER! Somewhere in my brain there is a trigger that just doesn't believe that things are so black and white that there can be a "best ever" in something so subjective as food - plus I'm damn competitive - so I took this as a challenge. Logical progression, right? This isn't the first time this "trigger" has gotten me in too deep. I need to disconect it.

The only problem is that I've never made the dish before - I've never made grits before. So there we were in the aisle of the grocery store arguing about whether polenta was the same as grits. A true answer may not be available until the Supreme Court rules on it, but for now, we were able to settle on using polenta mix ... although I'll take it as a minor victory in the inter-family war.

Shrimp and grits

Grits ingredients:

1 cup polenta/grits mix
2 1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbs. butter
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup each parmigiano-reggiano and raclette cheese, shredded
2 tsp. fresh thyme

Step 1: Heat 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth, 1/2 cup white wine and 2 tbs. butter to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to as low as you can go and add 1 cup grits slowly, stirring continuously while you add them. Mix in 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup each shredded parmigiano-reggiano and raclette cheese, and 2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves. Cheese should melt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Grits are done! Keep warm by covering (the shrimp won't take long). Add more broth for soupier grits, if that's how you like them.


Shrimp ingredients:

1 lb. peeled and deveined shrimp
3-4 strips of bacon, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup baby portobella mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup dried tomatoes, sliced
1 cup peas (thawed if frozen)

Step 2: Prepare ingredients. This dish cooks quickly so I like to have it all ready to go before I start.

Step 3: Render the fat from the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. When bacon is crispy, remove it with a slotted spoon. Add mushrooms and garlic, stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and peas, cooking for another minute. Add shrimp and cook until pink, about another 3-5 minutes. Just before removing shrimp from heat, add a few pieces of bacon back into the mixture.

Step 4: Serve shrimp on top of grits!