The Most Fantabulous Shrimp-n-Grits

Tags

cream sauce, grits, recipe, shrimp

(Adapted from AllRecipes.com)

1 cup water

1 pinch salt

6 tablespoons grits

2 tablespoons olive oil (or better, vegetable broth.  I use mushroom broth – yum!)

2 tablespoons diced onion

2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper

20 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 fistfuls of fresh spinach

salt and ground black pepper to taste

Bring water and a pinch of salt to a boil in a saucepan and slowly mix in the grits, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and simmer grits until tender and smooth, about 20 minutes.  Recite lines from My Cousin Vinny, i.e.: “No self-respectin’ Southerner uses instant grits!” (For Pete’s sake, don’t tell anybody if you DO use instant grits!) Stir often. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat broth (of your choosing) in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  (Here’s the Purpose Driven Mom coming out in me:  you don’t want to sauté with olive oil because it cannot withstand high heat and will release harmful free radicals as it cooks.  Okay, rant over…)  As you’re sautéing, add a few more drops of broth as needed if you feel it’s evaporating out too fast.

Stir in onion and green bell pepper and cook until onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Lightly stir the shrimp with the vegetables and broth until pink; remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

Pour white wine into the skillet and stir, dissolving any browned bits of food in the bottom of the skillet; slowly add the cream and stir gently.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper, then add fresh spinach and stir until it’s just a little wilted.

Gently combine the sauce with the grits and ladle onto plates.  Top with shrimp and serve.  Become somebody’s favorite chef ever.

The first time I made this, I didn’t have enough grits on hand and was afraid the meal would be lame.  So I made sweet biscuits and served the shrimp and grits over them.  Oh.  My. Goodness.

(If I can ever figure out why my biscuit recipe is so wonky – and fix it – I’ll share it with you.  Until then, I don’t want you to bake them up and be like, “Um, Lori?…what’s with this freaky biscuit batter??!!”  But they taste incredible, so I promise to share someday…)

I also use the same sauce with pasta (like this delicious organic spinach and cheese ravioli that I found at Target.)  It’s a win!

My Favorite Chicken Manicotti

Tags

chicken, condensed soups, stuffed pasta

 8 manicotti shells
1 can creamy chicken mushroom soup, undiluted
½ c. sour cream
2 c. chopped cooked chicken
¼ c. chopped onion
1 (4 oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained**
2 T butter, melted
¼ c. warm water
½ t chicken flavored bouillion granules
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Cook manicotti shells according to pkg, omitting salt. Drain, set aside.

Combine soup and sour cream, mix well.  Combine half of soup mixture and chicken, mix well. Set aside remaining soup mix. Stuff manicotti shells with chicken mixture; place in greased 12x8x2 baking dish.

Saute onion and mushrooms in butter in large skillet until tender; set aside.  Combine water and bouillion, stirring until dissolved.  Add all to reserved soup mix, stirring well.  Spoon over manicotti. 

Bake, uncovered at 350° for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle w/ cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes.

**Note: I now detest canned mushrooms; feel free to substitute ½ cup fresh sliced mushrooms!