Wrangler Dani

My beautiful sister-in-law suggested that, since Food Lush is no more (sad!) I should write about food here from time to time. I should warn you though – I’m a very passionate, haphazard cook. I rarely measure or follow recipes exactly, and, therefore, I’m much more likely to wax eloquent about a one-hit wonder than actually make something that I can recreate. However, on a positive note… I… well, I really love to cook, and I love Julia Child and Food Network and butter, which makes me kind of classy, right? No? Ok. You can still come over for dinner, I have plenty.

I’ve recently found a real winner recipe as I obsess about food: Shrimp and Grits. The recipe linked to here is not the exact one I recently used (I got mine from Fire in my Belly, an excellent Southern cookbook I got for Christmas, also, see my above note about never really following recipes, despite my cookbook obsession) but it’s probably the next iteration I’m going to try.

Here’s what I love about Shrimp and Grits. It’s inexpensive, quick to throw together, and you can update it endlessly depending on your taste or mood (or just whatever you have on hand – that’s usually my go-to inspiration). Grits also have a rich, homey, Southern flavor without being too hard to make in a home kitchen, and you can throw oodles of cheese into the pot, which, really, is what makes them so good.

Shrimp is a protein that many people are nervous about preparing, with good reason: they cook quickly and can easily become rubbery and fishy-tasting if left on the heat too long. Also, not every flavor goes with shrimp, and I think that everyone has had at least one nasty cocktail sauce experience. That said, you really should try them again. Buy fresh, deveined tail-on shrimp and sizzle them in a pan with a little butter and lemon juice, just until they turn pink. I promise you, you will love them. You will eat them right out of the pan and your husband will come home to find incriminating shrimp tails in the sink, instead of shrimp for dinner. (Not that that’s ever happened at our house…)

Have you ever made Shrimp and Grits? If so, what’s your secret ingredient? (Wanna know mine? Whiskey. I know, but it is SO good.)