spinner
Food & Wine
© Brown W. Cannon III

Tell Us What You Think

Barbecued Shrimp with Cheese Grits

Average Rating

 From 1 rating.

User Reviews

rating LanniSam
This is sinfully good.  Pinot wine recommendation was great. 

recipe tools

Printer-Friendly Page Printer-Friendly Page
RSS RSS
AddThis
Email to a Friend

Barbecued Shrimp with Cheese Grits

ACTIVE TIME: 40 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 20 MIN
SERVES: 6
By happy accident, Amber Huffman combined leftovers of two low-country staples—barbecue and cheddar cheese grits—for a quick Southern fusion meal. It became a Jesse Jackson favorite. Here, Huffman tops her grits with grilled shrimp slicked with a tangy, bourbon-based barbecue sauce. “I seriously have received three marriage proposals over a bowl of my cheese grits,” says Huffman. “I’ve accepted none so far.”
ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
  • 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
  • 1 1/4 cups ketchup
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons Tabasco
  • 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • Cheese Grits, for serving
directions
  1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the ketchup, bourbon, cider vinegar, molasses, honey, Tabasco, thyme and cayenne. Simmer over low heat, until thickened, about 40 minutes.
  2. Transfer the barbecue sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup of the sauce into a small bowl and reserve the rest.
  3. Preheat a grill pan. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper and brush on both sides with the 1/3 cup of barbecue sauce. Grease the grill pan with the oil. Grill the shrimp over moderate heat, turning once, until cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plates and serve with cheese grits and the remaining barbecue sauce.

MAKE AHEAD The barbecue sauce can be refrigerated for up to a week.

WINE Huffman’s rich cheese grits need a wine with some substance, but one that isn’t so tannic and massive that it will overwhelm the sweet shrimp—in other words, Pinot Noir. Kendall-Jackson makes a very good, black cherry–inflected, single-vineyard Pinot, the 2005 Highland Estates Seco Highlands that would be perfect; or look for Kendall-Jackson’s lighter, more peppery 2006 Vintner’s Reserve.