Shrimp and Grits Geechie Style #whatsonyourplateblogchallenge

#whatsonyourplateblogchallenge

My talented blog friend, Donna at Retirement Reflections, has teamed up with Deb at Widow Badass to invite all of us to a monthly virtual dinner party. The goal is to spread meal inspirations and share dishes that we have recently enjoyed. Breakfast, lunch, appetizers, dinner, dining in, dining out… all ideas are welcome.

This Yankee was not a fan of grits. It sat way down on the list of foods next to parsnips and liver. I could not get beyond the texture and, since the taste was bland and nondescript, it was not worth the effort. But time offers new experiences and enlightenment. My daughter lives in South Carolina, in the Low Country, where shrimp is harvested just a few miles away. Grits creamed with cheese, and topped with shrimp in a hearty rue is my go-to when I visit.

Over the years, my husband and I have experimented with grits with fair to good results. Grits are tricky. They need attention, precise measurement, and cheese-lots of cheese. If a step is shortcut-ed, mis-measured or left out, all is lost. I also learned that the wisdom behind the statement from the short-order cook in My Cousin Vinny movie, “no self respecting southerner uses instant grits.”

Weekday meals are usually an improvise. Even with my retirement hours, planning and prepping dinner every night is not a priority. Last night I spied two almost empty bags of frozen shrimp in the freezer, a small bag of grits from our last South Carolina visit in the cupboard, and remembered the kielbasi in the frig. My husband, Matt, found the recipe in his favorite cookbook, The Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen written by Matt Moore. I chopped, measured, stirred.sipped wine and yielded Low Country Shrimp and Geechie Boys Grits. Well, in reality the shrimp were sadly not from the Low Country, I substituted kielbasi for bacon, half and half for cream, and added cheese-lots of cheese. The shrimp sauce was ladled over the creamy , cheesy grits and served with a glass of wine and sweet iced tea. Delish Wednesday!

Thanks a bunch again to Donna at Retirement Reflections and the Widow Badass, Deb .

Hope you are hungry. Becoming America’s Food Stories recalls the tales that have been told around my family’s dinner table. The histories explain the motivations over bowls of macaroni, antics play out while slurping soup, and laughter echoes throughout the dining room. Pull up a seat. There’s always room.
The Heart of Bakers and Artists is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, 1911. The story follows nine-year-old Lily, an American-born child of Sicilian immigrants, who wants to prove she is not a little kid. To be a big kid in the crowded tenement neighborhoods, she must tackle bigotry, bullies, disasters, dotty bakers, and learn to cross the street by herself
The Dreams of Singers and Sluggers picks up where The Heart of Bakers and Artists left off.Lily has big dreams to sing out with her powerful voice, but must do EVERYTHING, since Mama fell into a deep depression, the baby is sick, and the “Black Hand” terrorizes the neighborhood, threatening her chance to sing at the New York Highlanders Fourth of July baseball game.
Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.

10 thoughts

      1. Our daughter who lives in Hilton Head SC gave it to me for Christmas years ago. I’ve even pickled Okra. Great book.

        Like

  2. Pingback: What’s On Your Plate – November: Win-Win Eating! – Retirement Reflections

  3. Hi, Antoinette – This is an awesome entry. What I like most is that it encourages us to try, and retry new things. Our tastes and recipes definitely evolve over time. Deb (cohost) wrote about her retrying basil which she hated for years and now quite likes. This is another form of win-win eating.
    BTW – I did try grits once at a restaurant in Arkansas. They were okay – but not inspiring enough for me to want to go home and try to make them myself. Thank you for the warning that they require precision in cooking. That would be kinda a deal-breaker for me.

    Like

    Reply

  5. I’ve had to google grits as it’s not something we have in Australia. I’m guessing it’s probably similar to what we’d refer to as cornmeal, but somehow sounds more exotic when called grits. As for shrimp and grits? Prawns are a fave with me (especially fresh Mooloolaba kings) and anything with bacon gets a tick.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. I love how our taste is food evolves and that recipes change also with our special touches!
    I first had grits when I lived in Texas as a college student – I have to say it was love at first bite! But I am an oatmeal as well as Asian porridge fan so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised.

    I like parsnips too – but liver, not so much (even in my pre-vegetarian days).

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.