I’ve gotten into a bit of a grits kick. I think it was the breakfast at Cracker Barrel a bit ago, but I went ahead and started doing breakfast grits.. unapologetically. While I’d do the mornings with some syrup, I thought – let’s make a good hearty meal from it. Have any leftovers? Read along at the bottom for our “Bonus” content – fried grit cakes! Come along, my friends..
On an administrative note, I’ve gotten into a bad habit of prepping post with pictures, but not actually writing them until later. I was doing good for awhile, but I’ve had some serious writer’s block as of late. I try to give y’all a peek into my mindset of what I’m doing as I’m doing it.. and I hate trying to type out posts from memory. I’ll be better – that’s my promise to you.
29 September update: Got myself all caught up once I got in the ‘groove’. We got some awesome posts coming!
The Prep Table
We’re heading over to the Blackstone for today’s cook. We’re going to heat up that sausage, shrimp, peppers, garlic and tomato. Once they’re nice and sautéed, we’re going to add ’em to the cheesy grits. Let’s head on out there. My homage to Cracker Barrel, I’ll at least use they’re cheese.
The Process
Nothing too special. Thin layer of oil on the Blackstone, get that sausage cooked, blacked up on each side. I feel like I say it a lot, but it’s crucial to my cooks. My right burner is always fired up and is at LOW. Can’t dial it down any lower. My left burner is toggled to the “cooking temp” – probably a medium or medium high. When I cook it up on the left, I slide it over to the right to retain heat while I commence with the rest. Y’all good on that? I’ll probably mention on the next one too ?
Soften up them “tomaters” and peppers and pile ’em up with the sausage. The shrimp ain’t gonna take a long time, so throw those on next. This is where we dust ’em a little bit with that Old Bay. I’ve said I’m going to make my Old Bay Seasoning in the past, still haven’t – but it’s a goal of mine. I’ve finally nailed down a bird seasoning.. time to try a shellfish one.
Thought I’d do a little zoom for ya on them Walmarts (un-necessary pluralization) large shrimp. After throwing heat on the sausage, tomato, pepper and shrimp – it’s smelling good. Can’t wait to get it all together.
Threw it all together, I probably did another slight dust of the Old Bay.. but made sure each felt some flavor from the next. That char on the sausage might turn some off – but I actually wanted it. The inner meat ain’t charred like it, so I get some hard flavor when the rest is mild. Cook it to your liking, I know I did mine.
Powering through the Quick Grits Cook. Followed it to instruction – I opted to throw in about a cup of hand-shredded white cheddar cheese and a couple heaping tablespoons of Old Bay and let it finish up. Not only did I have the garage/driveway smelling good, I had the kitchen smelling good as well.
The Result
Here’s where we went off the rails – MrsForensicBBQ’s fault.. send complaints to info@forensicbbq.com
Told my wife I needed some parsley, she said she was growing some in the yard. Perfect. Anytime we’re doing fresh herbs, I’m all about it. Last year, we did cayenne peppers among other things – Didn’t know we had parsley.
We didn’t have parsley.
We had cilantro.
And it was an unexpectedly overpowering cilantro – probably because I didn’t want cilantro. In typical ForensicBBQ fashion – I said “f$*! it”. It looks pretty, lets do it.
Holy hearty grit bowl. I knew what I wanted, what I expected .. this surpassed it. It was a wonderful blend of flavors. The juicy tomatoes were a welcome addition to the corn, the meaty shrimp/sausage. The mild yellow pepper. Man, it really did all work. The cilantro wasn’t especially welcome in this dish, but it didn’t ruin it either.
Follow along, screen shot it, copy it down – make this recipe one of your go-to’s. I know I did. The grits are solid base that let the flavors shine. I just re-upped this site for it’s THIRD year (crazy, I know). We’re getting dangerously close to putting together a ForensicBBQ cook book. I’ll take this time to reiterate, we don’t make a dollar from this. Never have.
We still send out stickers to y’all on demand, and I sincerely hope to continue to. Thanks for giving this one a view!! Bookmark it and thank us later!
Another 29 September update: Word got about about them stickers before this even went live. We’d appreciate it if you let us know you got your stickers, tag us on Instagram, Twitter, where ever you’re at. We’d love to see it!
The Recipe
Cheesy Shrimp/Andouille Grits
Ingredients
- 1-1.5 Lb Shrimp Jumbo
- 1 Link Andouille Sausage Sliced
- 1-2 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 Yellow Pepper Diced
Grits
- 1 Cup Quick Grits
- 1-2 Cups White Sharp Cheddar Cheese Shredded
- 1-2 Tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
Instructions
Shrimp
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté bacon until brown and crisp this may take about 3-5 minutes.Remove bacon from skillet and transfer to a plate. Some bacon drippings will be left in the pan (about 3 tablespoons).Add about a tablespoon of oil or butter to the pan, followed by shrimp. Then season with Cajun salt, and sauté shrimp for about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.Then add garlic, paprika, bell pepper, parsley, and green onions to the pan. Add about ¼ cup of broth or more – adjust to preference. Continue cooking for another 3 minutes.Add shrimp towards the last minute with lemon juice if desired, and adjust to taste. Throw in the crisp bacon, and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.Remove the mix from the heat and serve over your grits.
Grits
- I used the quick-grits mix, so cook as described. Add some shredded cheddar half-way through .. sprinkle on some Old Bay while it cooks and when thickened – pile on that meaty/veg mix.
Bonus Content!
If you’ve made it this far, kudos to you. Here’s what I did the next day with the leftover grits – Fried cakes!
Y’all should know by now – MrsForensicBBQ and I normally cook separately than each other. I like a meaty dinner, she’s mostly plant-based. Rather than me adapting to her, I do my own thing. I’ll nibble on some things she makes – but she won’t touch what I make. No matter how delicious it is.
Because of this, I normally have a shit ton of leftovers. What am I going to do with leftover grits and meaty/pepper mix? Let’s find out.
The metal ring I have – don’t remember what it’s intended use is for. Probably something for baking, but I used it for this. I emptied out that grits tupperware and made some grit cake patties from it. Let’s fry ’em up and make ’em crispy. The goal was to fry these up, put some heat on the leftover mix and top it with some habanero hot sauce I’ve had in the fridge since forever.
Our pantry is overloaded with hot sauce variations. As I type this weeks later from the cook – I ordered up the entire catalogue from a small batch guy to have our second full Wing Taster coming up (this weekend actually!). Anyway, Marie Sharp is getting her time to shine on these grit cakes, so let’s top it and put it together.
There ya go, a little bonus ForensicBBQ after-the-fact. I did prefer the initial cook over the cakes, but “it’s never as good the second day” ?
If you have leftovers, definitely think about doing this. It was good, it was different, and it was delicious. I loved this meal, and I for sure loved the leftovers even. Thanks, my friends!