Big John’s Cajun Shrimp and Grits with Blistered Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 4 cups water (you can substitute whole milk for a creamier grit or chicken broth for richer flavor)
• 1 cup stone ground grits
• 3 Tbl butter
• 2 cups shredded Big John’s Cajun
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Shrimp:

• 1 pound shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• 6 slices bacon. diced
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbl chopped parsley
• 1 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1 large clove garlic. minced
• 2 cups multi colored grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 Tbl butter

Directions

1. Bring your water (or milk/stock if using) to a boil. Stir in grits and cook until liquid is completely absorbed, around 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and butter.
2. While your grits are cooking, fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove bacon and chop. Remove most of the excess fat, reserving it for later. Keep some fat in the pan and add your tomatoes to blister (as they do, they may pop releasing liquid so watch for fat popping). Remove tomatoes from heat.
3. Add some of the reserved bacon fat, if needed, and cook shrimp until they turn pink. Add the lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions, garlic and blistered tomatoes and sauté until the garlic becomes fragrant. Be sure to keep the pan moving to prevent garlic from burning. This should take 2-3 minutes. Add the butter to form a sauce and let thicken enough to coat the other ingredients.
4. Serve the grits in a bowl with the shrimp mixture on top. Enjoy with a beer of your choice.