Gullah Gourmet Shrimp 'n Grits

Once upon a trip to Charleston,

this bag caught my eye. Besides, one just can't go to South Carolina and not have some Shrimp 'n Grits. Did you notice it's capitalized? It's THAT important.

I thought this little bag of southern bliss with the directions printed right on the bag would be something easy enough

for the boys to make at home. By boys, I mean adults who are children at heart, but definitely old enough to cook for themselves.

Riiiiiight!!!

 Well, we've had this bag for about 12 days now, and everyone wants to know 

"What's for dinner?"

I think this is the first time I've made yellow stone ground grits.

Apparently, it's what they are famous for in Charleston, because they are everywhere you turn. Baked grits, fried grits, cheesy grits, kissmygrits.

The instructions say to cook them until they are creamy. Once they were boiling, I turned them down to simmer with a lid for about 30 minutes. They tend to stick, so stir them often.

You can't have Shrimp 'n Grits without gravy. There was a mix of powdery goodness included in the bag with the grits. Just add water. I can handle this so far!

Time to add the shrimp. Make sure it's not the frozen pre-cooked kind because you'll want the shrimp to absorb the taste of the butter while they cook. The easiest way is the Jay Setser way...go to Food City and tell the cute girl at the seafood counter that you'd like a pound of veins-pulled-out-tail-chopped-off shrimp(s). We have this conversation about pleurals without s's. Like bricks and brick houses. Blocks and block walls. Maybe it should be called Grit 'n Shrimps.

 Call it whatever you like, I call it buttery goodness.

Add the shrimp to the gravy...

Assemble the best dish you've ever made in 30 minutes:

Grits topped with gravy and shrimp, with a side of toaster oven frozen garlic bread. I guarantee you, if you're a fan of S&G's, this is the best meal you'll ever eat that starts as a bag mix. 

Even the visitor, who wasn't going to eat any, because he was headed for Cracker Barrel with his lady, tried "just a bite" then went back for "just another bite or two." 

This was day one with my new camera, and I realize I have a lot of work to do on presentation. Mostly, though, I have to get the right lens for the close up work (or figure out how to use the one I have). 

You can order Gullah Gourmet here while you compare my amateur photos with the beautiful one that the company paid someone big bucks to put on the website. I will say, the website used different prep directions than the back of the bag, but it's all good. I wouldn't want to make them look bad by having better food photos than they do.

p.s. pass the gravy!