Recipe Thursday!(Shrimp and Grits & Hushpuppies)

After an entire week off due to traveling for work and fun, then whirlwind apartment hunting I AM BACK! Since I took so much time off, I thought I would come back with a double dose of recipe thursday! 
For my 23rd birthday my mom(who is the MOST AMAZING cook) put together a fantastic recipe book for me. She filled it with recipes, and had other members of the fam and some of her friends to add recipes to it as well! It is one of the best gifts I will ever get, and I love it! I have stacks of recipes torn out from Cooks magazine and Food and Wine that I need to sit down and add to the book, but thats a whole different project! So today I come at you with my mom's shrimp and grits recipe and my great-grandfather's(courtesy of my grandmother, thank Nan!) recipe for hush-puppies! Both of these foods take me back home, to a long beachy summer night, the sun beginning to set at 9, and eating dinner at 10:00pm! Enoy!

Shrimp and Grits

(i stole this picture, but this gives you a general idea of what this should look like-Mine is not quite this saucy)

Ingredients:
(Grits)
1 qt. Milk(preferably whole)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup grits(Anson mills stone ground if you can find them!)
1 egg(beaten)
4 ounces grated Gruyere
1/3 cup butter(yes this recipe has two steps that involve butter!)
salt and pepper
(shrimp)
1/4 pound of shrimp per person(i always get an extra half pound)
old bay seasoning
1/2 tbs crushed garlic
salt and pepper
4 strips bacon but into lardons(if you are serving more than 6 people add a few more pieces)
1-2 diced tomatoes
1 vidalia onion finely chopped


Directions:
(grits)
-Bring one quart of milk to a boil- while stirring constantly add butter(1st serving of butter), grits, egg and salt and pepper
-Once the grits begin to thicken add the additional butter and cheese- wait for the grits to feel creamy and place into baking dish
-cook @350 for one hour- can add additional cheese to the top during the last 10 minutes!
(Shrimp)
-On low heat sauté the bacon, onion, garlic, and tomato until well muddled- about 20-30 minutes- Bacon should be completely cooked before you add the shrimp
-As the sauce is cooking down season the shrimp with a little olive oil, hefty sprinkling of old bay, and salt and pepper
-Once the bacon is done and tomatoes cooked down turn the heat up to medium and add the shrimp- continue cooking until the shrimp are done(the tails are pink) should be about 7 minutes!


Plate the grits and top with the shrimp and sauce! This is a great dinner or brunch recipe, you can easily lighten it up for brunch by adding more veggies and subtracting the bacon! This is one of my all time favorite dishes and I almost always order it when it is on a menu, but honestly nothing ever beats the homemade version!

Hushpuppies

Ingredients
1 cup flour
2 cups corn meal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 cup chopped onion
2 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp hot grease


Directions:
-Heat up large fry pan with ample cooking oil
-Mix all ingredients together- and add the hot grease very last- you must wait until grease is very hot or they will not cook properly
-Dip spoon into hot grease then into batter, drop spoon-fulls of batter into the hot oil, the hushpuppies will float when they are done! 


According to my grandmother, my great-grandfather served these at his back yard fish fries, which sounds like a wonderful summer night to me! I would also recommend making these outside if you have the means, as it is hot, messy and smelly to fry things, but totally worth it, as there are few better bites in this world than a hush-puppy!