Ingredients

2 c. low-sodium chicken broth

2 c. water

kosher salt

1 c. corn grits

4 tbsp. butter

1 c. shredded cheddar

freshly ground black pepper

6 slices bacon

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. paprika 

4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish

2 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Preparation

Step 1In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth and water to a boil and season generously with salt. Reduce heat so mixture is at a simmer then whisk in grits. Simmer, stirring often, until grits have absorbed liquid and are very tender, 10 minutes. Stir in butter and cheese, then season with salt and pepper. Step 2Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy, about 8 minutes. Leave about 2 tablespoons bacon fat in skillet and drain bacon on a paper towel-lined plate before chopping into small pieces. Step 3Season shrimp with oregano and paprika then add shrimp, green onions, and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp is pink and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Step 4Serve shrimp over grits and top with chopped bacon.

Cook the shrimp in bacon fat.  

Because shrimp cooks so quickly (only a couple minutes per side!), you can sauté it in bacon fat without a risk of burning. If you want to avoid the bacon fat, feel free to use a couple tablespoons of butter. Use chicken broth + water to cook the grits.  Cooking grits (or rice or quinoa) in broth is an easy way to add flavor. To make sure that it’s not too overpowering, we generally use a combo of equal parts water and chicken broth. If you want to use vegetable broth, go ahead. And if you want to skip the broth all together, just use 4 cups water.  Make the grits CHEESY.  All great grits have cheese. Ours has a ton of cheddar, which gets mixed in with butter at the very end. The grits will be so creamy, you can just skip the heavy cream all together.  Yellow or white grits work for this recipe, which may also be labeled polenta in the grocery store.  Round it out with lemon juice.  There’s a lot of richness going on here. Bacon! Butter! Cheese! To cut all the fat, you need some acid. Enter: freshly squeezed lemon juice. It’ll brighten your bowl up BIG TIME.  Need help with the basics (i.e. peeling and deveining shrimp)?  There’s no pretty way to do it. To peel the shrimp, we recommend using your hands to pull off the legs then use your thumbs to crack the shell and peel it off. It comes off easily and is oddly satisfying. As for the vein running along the shrimp’s back (which is really the shrimp’s digestive track), make a small incision with a pairing knife at the top, then use the tip of the knife to pull out the rest of the vein. It’s OK if you don’t get every last bit. Eating it won’t make you sick, it can just add an unpleasant grittiness. Of course if you want to skip all this, you can buy it peeled and deveined from the fish counter. Just know you’ll likely need to shell out more for the convenience. (No pun intended!) Save your shrimp  Have you made this recipe? Let us know how you liked it in the comments below!