Shrimp and Crazy Creamy Cheddar Grits

Son of a Southern Chef

This is our third shrimp and grits recipe...I promise the end is in sight. Again, this recipe is very different from both of the previous ones. The grits have coconut milk in them, which I have never done before, and was a bit hesitant about. Coconut milk is often treated as more "sweet" in American recipes, but this is not at all sweet!

This is a really basic shrimp and grits recipe, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just grits with shrimp on top, with a bit of a pan sauce. No extra vegetables, no other meats, so the base ingredients can shine...and that makes it easier than a lot of the other shrimp and grits recipes we've made for the channel.

The recipe on his site is not exactly the same -- there no coconut milk, but otherwise it looks the same: https://www.sonofasouthernchef.com/food/shrimp-and-grits

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with heather today
[00:07]: we're going to be cooking from lazarus
[00:09]: lynch's um
[00:11]: son of a southern chef and we're going
[00:12]: to be making our
[00:14]: third shrimp and grits recipe we're
[00:16]: going to be making
[00:18]: his shrimp and crazy creamy
[00:21]: cheddar grits um now
[00:24]: he says when he was a kid he only ate
[00:26]: grits with sugar
[00:28]: which is not a thing that i have ever
[00:30]: heard of here um i don't know if that's
[00:33]: a thing that they do in alabama which is
[00:34]: where his father is from
[00:36]: or what but i've never had grips with
[00:37]: sugar but this is a savory
[00:40]: grit so don't worry however
[00:44]: i've also never made grits with coconut
[00:47]: milk
[00:47]: and this recipe has coconut milk in it
[00:50]: so
[00:51]: um it's gonna be interesting i have
[00:54]: uh some chicken broth chicken stock this
[00:57]: is chicken broth that i just made from
[00:59]: um
[00:60]: i keep chicken stock
[01:03]: base chicken broth base soup base
[01:06]: something like that
[01:06]: in the refrigerator so i have some
[01:09]: chicken broth here i keep
[01:10]: chicken soup base um
[01:13]: concentrate stuff in the refrigerator
[01:16]: just for times when i don't have
[01:18]: good chicken stock on hand and so that's
[01:21]: what i'm using for this
[01:22]: so i've got the amount that he calls for
[01:25]: here
[01:26]: in my pan i've got it coming up to heat
[01:29]: it medium but we're going to turn it up
[01:30]: in just a minute
[01:31]: i've got um coconut milk like i said you
[01:34]: need to make sure that you
[01:36]: shake your coconut milk can because
[01:39]: when it sits it tends to the fat
[01:42]: uh collects at the top so you want that
[01:44]: to be all mixed in
[01:45]: and then i'm going to use this
[01:47]: old-fashioned little key thing
[01:50]: to open it because that's the best way
[01:53]: to get liquids out of a can in my
[01:56]: experience i'm going to add that
[02:02]: hopefully it's mostly liquid seems like
[02:05]: there's
[02:06]: might be some solid still in there even
[02:07]: though i did shake it pretty well
[02:13]: it's a little cool maybe
[02:19]: okay that's not gonna work
[02:23]: and just grab my
[02:26]: other
[02:32]: can opener so i can get all of it out of
[02:36]: here
[02:49]: what
[02:54]: crew is not very helpful back there
[02:57]: all right see some of the fat is there
[03:01]: stuck to the top
[03:12]: there we go
[03:28]: there we go and
[03:32]: put this over here
[03:40]: and then i have some whole milk he says
[03:43]: you could use heavy cream but
[03:45]: i figured with the coconut milk there's
[03:46]: plenty of fat in this that is full
[03:48]: fat unsweetened coconut milk just fyi
[03:52]: um so it's going to be relatively savory
[03:55]: even though coconut is a little bit
[03:57]: sweet even without being sweetened
[03:59]: so yeah i've got whole milk is what i
[04:01]: decided to go with
[04:06]: and now we're going to bring this up to
[04:08]: a boil
[04:10]: on medium-high heat my
[04:13]: liquid is starting to boil here and so
[04:16]: i'm going to
[04:18]: whisk my grits in while i pour them in
[04:22]: so
[04:22]: you just want to keep them moving while
[04:24]: you pour them in
[04:28]: these are stone ground white grits i
[04:32]: think they're the same ones i used
[04:34]: um for the different roots recipe
[04:39]: which is what he calls for is a stone
[04:42]: ground
[04:43]: white grits
[04:45]: [Music]
[04:49]: all right now once these get bubbly
[04:52]: which they are we're going to turn this
[04:54]: down to low
[04:59]: and we're going to cook this for 15 to
[05:03]: 20 minutes he does not say to cover it
[05:04]: at this point
[05:08]: and whisk it occasionally so you want to
[05:11]: be careful with grits they
[05:12]: will boil over very easily
[05:16]: especially when they're covered they'll
[05:18]: quite easily escape
[05:19]: the cover and boil over and it's kind of
[05:22]: gross especially when there is um
[05:25]: dairy in your grits so
[05:28]: just a tip and they will
[05:33]: kind of stick to the bottom of your pot
[05:35]: which is why we whisk
[05:36]: occasionally just to keep that from
[05:38]: happening and keep it from burning
[05:40]: although
[05:41]: pretty easy to save as long as you don't
[05:44]: go too long
[05:45]: if they get a little stuck to the bottom
[05:46]: of your pot it's usually okay
[05:51]: all right 15 to 20 minutes
[05:54]: uh this has been going for about 15
[05:57]: minutes
[05:58]: and it's plenty thick
[06:01]: looks good to me um when we're done and
[06:04]: ready to serve
[06:05]: we can thin this out if we need to
[06:09]: with he says milk or chicken broth or
[06:11]: chicken stock
[06:13]: you can use just water or i might add a
[06:16]: little heavy cream if i wanted to be a
[06:17]: little creamier but first
[06:20]: we're gonna turn off the heat i might
[06:22]: turn mine to low
[06:24]: we'll see but we're gonna turn off the
[06:25]: heat and we're gonna add the last two
[06:26]: ingredients
[06:27]: for the grits which is some
[06:30]: [Music]
[06:31]: i have a little bit of paper there okay
[06:34]: some unsalted butter
[06:36]: and some white cheddar cheese some sharp
[06:40]: white cheddar cheese
[06:41]: so i'm just gonna put all of this in
[06:43]: here and stir it until it's all melted
[06:46]: and combined
[06:48]: and then we're going to put the lid on
[06:50]: and just let it hang out while we make
[06:52]: our shrimp
[06:54]: so he does specify that we should cook
[06:56]: the shrimp in a cast iron skillet
[06:59]: and i'm supposed to put it over
[07:01]: medium-high
[07:02]: heat i'm gonna go get my shrimp my cast
[07:05]: iron skillet get pretty hot
[07:07]: it's got um some extra virgin olive oil
[07:10]: in it
[07:11]: these are the same shrimp that we've
[07:13]: used for our other shrimp and grits
[07:15]: dishes um this is a little more than
[07:18]: what he calls for just because
[07:21]: i'm pretty sure my family will eat a
[07:23]: little more than what he
[07:25]: calls for we'll probably have it's like
[07:27]: the other recipes we'll probably have
[07:28]: just a little bit left over but not
[07:31]: enough for me to cook just what he um
[07:33]: asks for i'm
[07:35]: kind of trying to keep the rest almost
[07:37]: exactly i might use a little bit more
[07:39]: liquid depending we'll see
[07:42]: just to try to keep the keep as true to
[07:46]: the recipe as i can
[07:48]: so i've got the oil coming to
[07:50]: temperature
[07:53]: and
[07:56]: all right we're going to add some minced
[07:59]: garlic
[08:01]: just for a couple minutes until it is
[08:04]: nice and
[08:04]: fragrant we do not want this to burn
[08:11]: so
[08:12]: some of my bits are starting to get
[08:14]: brown so the next thing we do is add
[08:16]: some
[08:17]: dry white wine
[08:30]: now he says to bring it to a boil and
[08:32]: then reduce to medium
[08:34]: low and cook it until it's reduced
[08:40]: by about half just a couple minutes
[08:45]: it's not a lot of wine so
[08:48]: i think this is about where we need to
[08:51]: be with our wine
[08:52]: so we're going to add the shrimp
[08:58]: paper towel
[09:06]: adding our shrimp which are cold from
[09:08]: the refrigerator
[09:10]: we're also going to add some salt i'm
[09:11]: going to add maybe a little bit
[09:13]: more than
[09:16]: he says just because i have a little bit
[09:18]: more shrimp
[09:19]: than he calls for
[09:23]: just a little bit though
[09:30]: some pepper
[09:44]: and a little bit of chicken stock i'm
[09:47]: just using the same stuff i used for the
[09:49]: grits
[09:50]: this is a little bit more than he calls
[09:51]: for
[09:54]: not so i'm not going to use quite all of
[09:56]: it
[09:60]: and he says just to simmer this until
[10:02]: the shrimp
[10:03]: are cooked
[10:06]: pink
[10:11]: it's not cooking very fast i want to
[10:13]: turn the heat up
[10:15]: so yeah it was not simmering i turned it
[10:17]: back up to medium high
[10:18]: and i think we're pretty much where we
[10:21]: need to be the shrimp is almost all
[10:24]: completely cooked but not overcooked so
[10:26]: i'm going to go ahead and continue with
[10:27]: the recipe
[10:28]: i'm going to add some lemon juice
[10:38]: go um a little bit of hot sauce he just
[10:42]: says a
[10:42]: dash that was a lot
[10:48]: my husband's happy about that but the
[10:49]: kids may not be
[10:51]: and then um i'm going to add
[10:55]: some cold unsalted butter and we're just
[10:59]: going to make you know we're basically
[11:00]: mounting the pan sauce with this
[11:03]: and trying not to um overcook our shrimp
[11:08]: just he says to swirl it it's hard to
[11:10]: swirl the pan
[11:12]: when it's such a heavy pan on my
[11:15]: stovetop and my husband also gets mad
[11:17]: about that so we're just
[11:18]: we're just gonna kind of stir it in
[11:26]: and then once that is all melted
[11:29]: and you do want that to be cold from the
[11:31]: refrigerator which is
[11:33]: why it wasn't out earlier all right
[11:38]: all right that's all there we're gonna
[11:40]: turn the heat
[11:41]: off and we're gonna add
[11:45]: just a pinch of cayenne pepper i'm just
[11:48]: gonna
[11:51]: yeah that's good for for us especially
[11:53]: since i would put a little too much hot
[11:54]: sauce in there
[11:57]: and some
[12:01]: of this parsley just plain parsley
[12:05]: and there we go our shrimp is done
[12:10]: with a nice sauce
[12:14]: and i'm going to let's see
[12:17]: i think i'm just going to use the rest
[12:19]: of this um
[12:21]: chicken broth to thin out my grits a
[12:24]: little bit
[12:30]: they were pretty um
[12:34]: pretty creamy already they taste very
[12:36]: coconutty so
[12:38]: and there was plenty of salt so i don't
[12:40]: need to add any more of that the
[12:42]: didn't want to taste it for salt until
[12:44]: after
[12:45]: i put in the cheese oh yeah he does say
[12:47]: to um
[12:49]: add a tiny bit more salt to the shrimp
[12:51]: at this point just sort of to taste
[12:54]: i haven't tasted it but added a little
[12:56]: bit more
[12:57]: and we're gonna plate it all up and
[12:59]: we'll let you know how it is
[13:12]: on this episode of cooking the books
[13:14]: with heather you watched me make shrimp
[13:16]: and crazy creamy cheddar grits from
[13:18]: lazarus lynch's son of a southern chef
[13:21]: cookbook
[13:23]: and this is the third shrimp and grits
[13:25]: recipe that we've made
[13:27]: in order um and the whole
[13:30]: okay we really liked the shrimp in this
[13:33]: one i think
[13:34]: it was it had a nice sauce it was
[13:38]: delicious very shrimpy the grits
[13:42]: if you don't like coconut milk if you
[13:45]: don't like coconut milk
[13:47]: at all you probably won't like these
[13:50]: grits um
[13:52]: everybody in the family ate them they
[13:53]: they they were not
[13:56]: overwhelmingly coconut because you have
[13:58]: the chicken stock in there
[13:60]: and everything uh and the cheese to
[14:03]: sort of cut that a little bit but they
[14:05]: did taste of coconut
[14:07]: one of my children did not enjoy these
[14:09]: grits
[14:10]: um loved the shrimp just didn't eat much
[14:13]: of the grits
[14:15]: the other child loved them a lot and ate
[14:17]: all of it
[14:18]: so that's you know that's a
[14:21]: you know a personal taste thing you
[14:24]: could substitute
[14:25]: uh regular plain milk or any other
[14:29]: milk that you enjoy uh instead of the
[14:32]: coconut milk if you know that that's not
[14:34]: something you like but if you do
[14:36]: like it at all i would suggest that you
[14:38]: try it this way it did complement
[14:41]: the flavors very nicely in my in our
[14:44]: opinion
[14:44]: we liked it an awful lot honestly um
[14:48]: we tend to serve shrimp and grits as a
[14:51]: dinner option
[14:52]: in this recipe in this book it's in his
[14:55]: breakfast or brunch section
[14:57]: which is another standard thing that
[14:58]: like places restaurants served shrimp
[15:01]: and grits for a brunch
[15:03]: the one thing for dinner this doesn't
[15:05]: have
[15:06]: vegetables in it besides like a little
[15:07]: bit of garlic and maybe onion
[15:10]: i think just garlic um in it
[15:13]: so you're you're kind of missing that i
[15:15]: served it with a salad on the side so we
[15:17]: got our vegetables in
[15:19]: um so we really liked it we liked it way
[15:23]: more than we expected
[15:25]: the only problem was you know one kid
[15:27]: didn't like the coconut in the grits
[15:29]: um but the other the the method for
[15:31]: cooking grits is
[15:32]: really pretty simple and then it's much
[15:34]: like the one that i usually
[15:36]: use myself when i make them without a
[15:39]: book
[15:40]: so and other than that no special
[15:43]: no special equipment needed not very
[15:45]: difficult
[15:46]: make some grits cook some shrimp and
[15:49]: there you have it
[15:50]: a little bit of sauce so uh if you
[15:53]: enjoyed watching me make this please
[15:54]: give me a thumbs up
[15:56]: hit the subscribe button and come back
[15:58]: and watch us make
[15:60]: one more shrimp and grits recipe