There is seriously nothing better than spending your Friday night after a long week on the couch with a good glass of Opolo merlot, a lap top and a blog...and oh yeah kitty is here too. I feel as if I am writing a letter to a dear friend and I guess since I have had this blog for a few years now I can probably call you all friends, right? And as many of you know I make friends rapidly so we are all probably best friends now.

Quick side story, when I typed the word couch it reminded me of an auto correct error I had not too long ago. I got a text from a friend asking me what I was doing and I responded "laying on the coach." She was like "sorry I didn't mean to interrupt," and at first I was pretty confused until I realized that she thought I was in a compromising position with a coach and not my couch. Oopsie!!



So as many of you know I made Charleston Shrimp and Grits this week. I just bought the cookbook From Mama's Table to Mine by Bobby Deen and I liked the idea that he takes Southern Cooking and makes it a little more health conscious. I also thought he was pretty darn attractive based on his picture on the cover, but just like most love affairs you start to get to know him better (aka. thumbing through the other photos in the book in which he is less attractive) and your crush quickly is extinguished. Thankfully he is still a pretty decent chef so I got over the loss of my eye candy and moved on to his food. Yes, this analogy does replicate my real life dating experiences just in case you were wondering.

One more side note, it is no wonder that I am single because I am not only the most unromantic person on the face of the planet, I am also the least smooth. I am that girl who texts the guy instead of her best friend describing how horrendous the date was, gets turned off by a guys spelling in his text messages and refuses to go out with him, falls out of love with the butcher even though I think he is super cute because he doesn't know what risotto is, ridicules a guy on fb for wearing socks to bed and well you get the picture.

And since I am always down for a cooking adventure I decided to try something out of my comfort zone. Now let me start by saying I don't have much experience eating Southern food, I have no experience cooking Southern food and even when I was in Atlanta I had an offer to go eat some good 'ol Southern fried food and I was like "eh I'm ok." So I don't call myself a Southern food subject matter expert by any stretch of the imagination. Damn is this enough of a disclaimer before I shatter my Southern friends hearts. Here it goes....I didn't like the grits. I thought they were bland, a little mushy and felt like I was eating cream of wheat cereal with my shrimp. In my opinion, this shrimp dish would have been awesome over some steamed rice.

I know all of my Southern friends are now swearing, breaking up with me and probably declaring my above statements as sacrilegious, but I just felt the need to be honest. I do have to say I really liked the shrimp part of the dish. It had a saffron flavor to me even though it was devoid of saffron and I loved the consistency of the sauce, almost tasted like a French roux, minus all of the fat.

This recipe cut fat by using Canadian bacon instead of real bacon and at first I was a little hesitant, but it truly worked. Sure real bacon would have been awesome too, but seriously what isn't bacon good in. It also uses fat free half and half and the consistency was perfect and it still gave the sauce a great creamy texture.

First of all, cook the bacon, onions and bell peppers until softened. Add the garlic and the white wine. As a side note I love the smell of white wine as it cooks. It almost just feels festive to me. Oh wait wine is always festive for me!!

In a bowl, combine the cornstarch and chicken broth and dissolve. This is obviously what thickens up the sauce and it works perfectly. Add the chicken broth, half and half and cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. Finally, add the shrimp and cook until opaque.

Cook the grits and serve the shrimp mixture over them. Sprinkling with green onions.


Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 Canadian bacon slices, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half (or use low-fat)
3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 cup quick-cooking grits
Chopped scallions (dark green tops only), for serving
Directions
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the bacon, onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the white wine and let it bubble until it is mostly evaporated, about 1 minute.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of the chicken broth and stir until dissolved. Add the remaining broth to the skillet along with the half-and-half and the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until slightly thickened. Add the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the grits according to the package directions.

Serve the shrimp and sauce over the grits and top with the scallions.


The sauce has a nice nutty flavor, the shrimp gives it a flavor that reminds me of Old Bay Seasoning and the vegetables add some nice texture. The shrimp mixture I found to be very decadent and rich and I truly could have eaten the entire pot in one sitting. But the grits slowed me down in my consumption...they were a little gummy, kind of grumpy and yes I mean grumpy, stuck to the back of my throat and just didn't make me happy.

And as a side note I definitely recommend a nice robust white wine with this dish...like an oaky Chardonnay of the Sonoma Cutrer or Rombauer variety...just in case you wanted my opinion.

Have a fabulous weekend and for those of you who are waiting for my culinary school update I promise to post one this weekend. Last week we had off due to "spring break," also known as our instructor was eating his way through Japan. But this week we tackled beef....and turned in our French baguettes...stay tuned.