Tuesday, September 02, 2008


Sweet Corn Grits with Shrimp


I spend most of my Sunday mornings watching the political shows on tv and making breakfast. Grits are often on the menu, and these grits with a spicy shrimp gravy are delicious. It has a Spanish influence, with the sherry, smoked paprika, and chorizo. Spanish Chorizo is different from the Mexican Chorizo. It is a cured smoked hard sausage. It adds a smoldering depth of flavor.


For the grits:

Corn scraped from the cob of one large ear of sweet corn

2 cups milk

6 tablespoons of grits

pinch of slat

1/4 cup shredded cheese (whatever you like, Jack, parmesan, cheddar, etc)


Bring the milk, corn, and salt to the boiling point

Whisk in the grits, and continue to cook and whisk until the grits are tender, smooth, and creamy-4 to 5 minutes

Keep the grits warm until the shrimp are ready


For the shrimp:

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon of Spanish smoked paprika

1/4 cup julienned peppers (red, green)

4 ounces of Spanish Chorizo, Julienned (Spanish Chorizo is not the same as Mexican Chorizo)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled, deveined, and rough chopped

1/4 cup dry sherry


Briefly saute the paprika in the butter

Add the vegetables and the chorizo and continue to saute until the vegetables are softened, but with a little bite left in them

Add the shrimp and sherry and cook just until the sherry bubbles and the shrimp are cooked through

Serve over the grits

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Shrimp and grits! This is the recipe I need! A South Carolinian friend and I have sort of a running joke about this dish; she's always talking about it and I'm always trying to find and eat it (or threatening to make it). Not all the recipes I've seen have sounded right, but this one does. What a great place to use smoked paprika. Tagging this right away for future reference.

I had a version on the Outer Banks this fall that was very disappointing. Everything was floating in a thin, milky soup instead of gravy. Blech. Flavors were good, but consistency was ick.