Spicy Shrimp and Grits- Cooking Light

I was on my own for Saturday dinner this weekend and decided to prepare a recipe that Shawn wouldn't normally want to try. Shrimp was on sale this week so I went through my trusty collection of recipes to find something fun to try. I decided on Spicy Shrimp with Grits from my Cooking Light magazine since it had a lot of items that I already had in my cabinets. Plus, I'm just a sucker for Shrimp and Grits and the recipe has bacon (BACON) in it. Cooking light has a theory that if you use small amounts of bacon in place of cream and butter you can add way more flavor, plus protein, with similar calories. You can't eat like this every day, but it's nice to be able to fit in delicious food and not feel overly guilty about it.

Since I was cooking for myself, I decided to cut the recipe in half so I wouldn't have a ton of leftovers. I figured that a recipe for four, cut in half, would yield a portion for dinner and a portion for breakfast. I was right:) I should have taken a tip from my college classes in yielding and written down the new ingredient measurements on a separate piece of paper. I didn't make any mistakes, but had to go back and reference the recipe about 10 more times than I should have.

I started by frying up 2 pieces of applewood smoked bacon. When it was crisp, I drained the bacon on a paper towel and removed most of the grease. I sauteed the shrimp for 2 minutes on each side and removed them from the pan. I then added the sliced onion, sauteeing for one minute, and then the grape tomatoes and crumbled bacon. I did make one slight step away from the recipe by adding the teeniest bit of chicken stock to the pan with the onions. There was this gorgeous layer of bacon, shrimp, and spices at the bottom of my pan and I couldn't resist bringing the flavor up on the onions. I'm glad I did! I added the shrimp back to the pan with a touch of Sriracha to finish the dish.

While this was going on, I prepared the grits and added the parmesan as the last step. Topped the grits with shrimp and sat down for dinner.

Wow. This was sooo good! The grits were creamy with just the right texture. The shrimp was delicious!! A hint of spice and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. I loved it! The portion was quite ample and looked fantastic on the plate. It heated up well the next morning, too; holding its texture and not getting greasy at all. I would make this again without a doubt, either for dinner or maybe as a fun tapas dish for company. Shawn likes grits, just not shrimp, so I might try it again with veal scallops and see how that turns out.

Spicy Shrimp with Grits- Cooking Light March 2010
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