Lowcountry Inspired : Shrimp & Grits

When I think of comfort food, shrimp and grits is the ultimate meal that comes to mind. Its warm, creamy, and it's the perfect dish to fill your tummy and warm your soul. It's a dish that hits all senses, smell, taste, sight, texture. It's delicious aroma, the warm sumptuous taste and texture of the buttery grits and spicy shrimp.  It's origins are from South Carolina, particularly Charleston. Down in the Lowcountry, it was the breakfast food of fishermen during shrimp season (May through December).

In the particular religion of making grits, eating anything instant or "easy" is just plain bad karma. Any grit-loving individual would obviously choose coarse stone ground grits instead. The difference is in the taste and texture!

Starting off as a simple breakfast food, grits are now on many menus, and have been fancied up and are served for brunch, lunch and dinner (all of the above three work for me). What I found about shrimp and grits recipes, were that you can really add any ingredients you want to them. The variations are endless- spicy, buttery, sausage.. all ways delicious!

Here's what I did...

Grits: The directions on the package are usually accurate and very easy - I just followed them to make the grits but I'll re-post them here as well.
-1 cup coarse stone ground grits
-4 cups of water
-2 pats of butter
-1 tsp of salt
-1 tsp of pepper

If you're a bit of a health buff like I am, you can use low fat or light butter- or even butter substitutes.. that's what I did, and you end up at the same delicious conclusion.

When all ingredients are in the pot, bring the water to a full boil. Once at a boil, bring it to a simmer, and let the grits sit and get delicious for about 25 - 30 minutes...


Shrimp:
-1/2 lb or (depending on how many people you're serving) less of shrimp.
-EVOO
-Garlic
-Cayenne pepper / red pepper flakes (optional)
-Cajun seasoning (also optional- depending on how spicy you want your shrimp)
-Salt & pepper


Cooking the shrimp was really easy. You'll want to wait about 15-20 minutes into cooking the grits before starting the shrimp because they cook faster than the grits, and you don't want to be putting cold shrimp on top of your grits.

First thing to do is to heat up some extra virgin olive oil- I used about 3-4 tbs. Just enough to cover the pan. After it's heated up, you'll want to get about 2 cloves of garlic, and make sure they're minced very well; once minced and the olive oil is heated, you saute the garlic until it gets lightly browned, be careful not to let the garlic burn!

Next you add in the shrimp. When I purchased my shrimp, they were already cleaned- if they're not cleaned, you'll want to do that BEFORE adding it into the olive oil.

Shrimp only take a few minutes to cook- and if over cooked, they become tough and rubbery. That would be dreadful, because there is nothing better than biting into a delicious crunchy shrimp. Medium shrimp (2-3 inches long) only take about 2-3 minutes, however larger shrimp- take about 3-5 minutes.

Once shrimp is in the pot, you'll want to add your spices. I used all of the above, if you're not big on spicy things then you can skip the parts where it adds in Cajun seasoning along with the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. I, on the other hand, LOVE spicy food. So as you can imagine, I loaded up.

After all is said and done, you'll want to put your grits in a bowl, scoop some shrimp and just add them to the top- maybe sprinkle some red pepper flakes and add a sprig of parsley for decorations and enjoy!


With Crumbs,
/K

Coconut Curry Chicken

I stumbled upon this recipe while I was away at school ... deciding what to make myself for dinner .. inadvertently, school is where I found out that I LOVED TO COOK, (I was left to my own devices , thankfully) and had grown tired of the normal boring chicken, or pasta dishes every night.

Behold my delicious version of Indian coconut chicken curry, I added a few scrumptious veggies here and there. Also, definitely quick and easy to make for a long day after work where you don't want to cook at all. I really enjoy Indian food- even if its altered a bit to my own liking, the flavors are so rich, and bold and the spices and textures of all of the ingredients, definitely warming for not just the body, but the soul.

What you'll need :

-coconut milk (be sure not to mistake with coconut water!)

-boneless, skinless chicken breasts : About 2-3

-one can of bamboo shoots

-Thai fish sauce

-curry powder

-curry paste

-about 3-4 peppers (red, green, orange) for color

-package of sliced mushrooms

-lime juice (fresh tastes better)

also as a side dish, because this is sort of a one pot meal, I like to put it over brown rice to give it substance, in my version, I used brown rice medley from Trader Joes (Oh, how I love that store!) but regular brown rice will do just fine too!

So here's what you'll want to do !

1. I would start off by cooking the rice first, because it'll take longer to cook than the chicken curry- start off with a small or medium pot, and add two cups of water. You'll want to bring the water to a full boil, when it comes to a full boil, stir in the rice, and bring the flame down to a simmer. Let sit until the water is soaked into the rice. I would allow the rice to cook for about 20 minutes before starting the chicken dish.

2. While the rice is cooking, you'll want to prepare the chicken breasts. When I made my dish, I marinated the chicken in curry powder. After you rub the curry powder on the chicken, you'll want to cut the breasts into strips. Make sure these strips aren't too long- you'll want them to be bite sized.

3. After about 15-20 minutes of cooking the rice, you can start the main course. In a separate pan, on about a low to medium flame, add the coconut milk. Let the milk come to a full boil before adding the chicken so that it cooks right away. When the milk comes to a full boil, add the chicken. Make sure none of the pieces are over lapping so that everything fully cooks.

4. When the chicken is looking about halfway cooked you can start adding in other ingredients. First you'll want to add the curry paste to the coconut milk. The curry paste ranges in spice from mild to hot- I prefer the medium & hot variations- and I add a lot to my dish so that it's spicy, but everyone has different palates. Mix the curry paste into the coconut milk- there really is no exact amount, it's all based on how much taste you want & can handle in your dish. I use about three heaping scoops of medium.

The curry paste should dissipate once you mix it into the coconut milk.

5. After the curry paste, you'll want to start adding the vegetables so that they can start cooking down. Start off by adding the toughest veggies first, such as the peppers. Core the peppers, and cut them into slices, they will cook down once put into the pot.

6. After about 6 or 7 minutes after adding the peppers, you'll want to add the mushrooms. I add a lot of mushrooms because it soaks up the juice from the coconut/curry juice.

By this time the chicken should be cooked, be sure not to overcook the chicken because it can become tough and dry. (Even, surprisingly in a somewhat wet and moist dish)

7. After the addition of the mushrooms you'll want to add the bamboo shoots (which are my favorite part of the dish! These tiny taste-less things add such texture and crunch to the dish)

The dish may seem a bit watery at first, but if you put the flame on simmer and add a lot of the vegetables such as mushrooms and peppers, they will soak up and give it some consistency.

By this time the rice should be finished! Plate it up by putting the rice in a bowl and then scooping out the chicken curry and sauces on top, dish it out, and enjoy the beautiful dinner!

With crumbs,

K

STARTING TO FOOD

Hello all!!

This is my first encounter with the blogging world, so bare with me as I learn how to use this thing, and cook!!

With crumbs,

Krystin