Gorgeous Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp & Grits Dinner

I had the very good fortune of receiving a shipment of fresh Louisiana shrimp on Friday from Anna Marie Seafood.  These large, beautiful shrimp were sustainably harvested and frozen all natural at sea.  How cool is that?!  I've never cooked with shrimp this fresh before at home.

One of my favorite all-time shrimp dishes has to be the Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp & Grits from Mr. B's Bistro, located in New Orleans' French Quarter.  They describe this entree as a sauté of applewood smoked bacon-wrapped jumbo Gulf shrimp served with creamy stone ground yellow grits and red-eye gravy.  I went online and found that Country Roads Magazine had the recipe posted on their website, score.  Seriously, my mouth was watering all weekend with anticipation of making this meal with super fresh ingredients.  I'm not sure if the photos do it justice, but my meal tonight didn't disappoint!  Although my belly is stuffed full with shrimp, bacon, red-eye gravy and cheese grits, my mouth instantly begins to water as I recall the succulent, complex tastes. 

Substitutions were made to prepare this meal.  The store didn't have mascarpone cheese so I opted to use Philadelphia savory garlic cooking creme instead.  They didn't have the stone-ground grits either, so I used Quaker's 5-minute grits and prepared them using the Mr. B's grits recipe.  I also used toothpicks instead of the wooden skewers.  It actually worked out really well and look forward to making this meal again.  

Oh, and in case my older sister is reading this post, I'll be committed to Weight Watchers again starting tomorrow!

Shrimp with Red-Eye Gravy and Grits

From Mr. B's Bistro
Serves 4

8 strips applewood-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into thirds
20 jumbo shrimp (12 per pound, about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled, leaving tail intact, and deveined
4 large wooden skewers, soaked in water for 10 minutes
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 1/2 tsp firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 1/2 cups dark chicken stock
2 1/2 Tbsp pepper jelly
1 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
3 cups Mr. B’s stone-ground grits (see recipe below)
2 Tbsp minced fresh chives

Season shrimp with salt and pepper.  Wrap 1 piece bacon around center of each shrimp (reserve leftover bacon) and line up on a work surface.  Skewer 5 wrapped shrimp onto each skewer, leaving a little space in between each shrimp. 

Heat a large skillet over high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon oil and heat until almost smoking.  Add 2 skewers and cook 2 minutes each side, or until bacon gets crisp.  Repeat cooking shrimp in same manner.  Transfer shrimp to a plate. 

To skillet add vinegar and brown sugar and cook about 1 minute, or until reduced by half.  Add stock and cook over high heat until reduced by half.  Add jelly and cook 1 minute, or until jelly is dissolved.  Remove skillet from heat and add butter, stirring, until just melted.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. 

In a small skillet cook leftover bacon until crisp.  Cool and crumble. 

To serve, mound grits (see recipe below) on plates.  Remove shrimp from skewers and arrange around grits.  Drizzle sauce over grits and garnish with reserved bacon and chives.

Mr. B's Stone-Ground Grits

From Mr. B's Bistro
Serves 6

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup stone-ground grits
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan bring cream and milk to a simmer over moderately low heat.  Whisk in grits and cook, stirring often, 25 minutes.  Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Go Bananas

Bananas are probably my all-time favorite fruit.  To me, perfect bananas look like the picture above.  Not too big, not too small, bright yellow with a hint of green, almost on the under-ripe side and very firm.  If every banana stayed like this, I'd eat two of them every single day...I've seen me do it.  The problem is that they ripen way too quickly and that seriously drives me bananas.  I'll get a perfect bunch at the store on a Sunday and by Wednesday they're too ripe and I want nothing to do with them.  I can't stand when they get mushy, start to get those nasty brown spots or begin to bruise.  Why isn't there was a way, short of hitting the store every other day, to have a perfectly ripe banana whenever I want one?  The one and only plus of having bananas that are too ripe is that they make for really great banana bread...another favorite of mine.  So I guess in the grand scheme of things, having over-ripe bananas isn't the worst thing in the world.

Yuck, Yuck!  Who can eat a banana that looks like this???? Not me!