Shrimps and more Shrimps!

Back from vacation and shrimp feasting on the lovely coast of South Carolina!  Ashley joined me and the fam for a delightful week of relaxing and beaching.  With her she brought Grandma's recipe for shrimp and grits!  I have never actually had shrimp and grits and I'm just now learning to enjoy shrimp at all so it was a new experience for me.  Frankly, it was way easier to make than I was expecting and super delicious.

We start with 3 pounds of fresh shrimp for 6 adults - it was questionable if that was enough, I certainly was full but some people wished there had been more.  With me, Ash, and my mom we peeled and de-veined all of the shrimp.  I can't say this is an enjoyable job, but it wasn't nearly as terrible as I was expecting.  And I got to use the shrimp de-veining tool we found in the kitchen of the condo!  (You can save the shells and tails and make a shrimp stock which was used later in the week for a sauce to top a crab/fish dish.  Very flavorful.)

The shrimp get mixed up with salt, pepper, about 6 cloves of garlic, and some thyme (the original recipe calls for parsley but we had to work with what was in the kitchen) and then placed in a glass baking dish.  After about 20 min in a 400 degree oven they were cooked perfectly.

As for the grits, the local Food Lion had quite limited options so we ended up using 5-minute grits.  Ashley was not excited about this and apparently my suggestion to use the yellow grits was ridiculous, so 5-minute grits it was. Ash dressed them up with almost a stick of butter and lots of salt.  I don't know what non-instant grits taste like but these were certianly good.  We mounded up the grits in a bowl and served the shrimp right on top.  I'd say it was a very successful dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed my first shrimp and grits!

I think I'm a shrimp convert - It is way easy to cook and make flavorful, and I probably ate more of it on this vacation than I ever have before.  The shrimp and grits dinner was pulled together between crazy golf cart rides and perhaps a couple too many beers and it still managed to be good.  And don't think the shrimp stopped there, we had a big shrimp boil a couple nights later!

It's tough coming back to reality after an extremely enjoyable vacation at the beach with some of my favorite people.  It made for good memories and a chance to cook for my family with one of my best friends, which doesn't happen often enough.

P.S. I apologize for the lack of pictures, for whatever reason the only one I have is of Ashley whisking grits and none of the final product.  So I will leave you all with this gem:

As AMAZING as this photo is...Little has a pic of the shrimps right as they went into the oven...