Q: I moved to Georgia in 2006 and was delighted to discover shrimp and grits. I order it at every restaurant that has it on the menu and have been experimenting with recipes at home. The shrimp and grits at Atlantic Seafood in Alpharetta is the absolute best in town. Any chance you could get the recipe for me? I would be eternally grateful. — Amanda Rametta, Cumming
A: Atlantic Seafood's former executive chef Chris Hughes gave us this recipe and told us it is one of the restaurant's most consistent best-sellers, on the menu for the past two years. His personal favorite is the shrimp and grits served with a crab cake. Yum!
We feature shrimp and grits two or three times a year in “From the menu of ... ” because it’s also a perennial favorite of our readers. Each version has been very different. This one features caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and a gracious amount of sherry.
--------------------
Atlantic Seafood Company’s Shrimp and Grits
Hands on: 25 minutes Total time: 25 minutes Serves: 4
- 2 cups 2 percent milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup grits
- 10 tablespoons (11/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
- Salt and pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, tail on
- 1/2 cup cream sherry
- 1 roasted red pepper, sliced
In a medium saucepan, heat milk and water over medium heat. When warm, about 5 minutes, stir in grits, making sure no lumps form. When grits are evenly moistened, cover pot and cook until grits are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in 6 tablespoons butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.
In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons butter with garlic and parsley. Mix well and chill in the refrigerator.
While grits are cooking, in a large skillet, heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Add onion and reduce heat to medium. Cook until onion caramelizes, about 10 minutes. Set onion aside.
In the same skillet, warm olive oil over medium-high heat until hot, about 1 minute. Lay shrimp in skillet and cook 1 minute. Turn shrimp and add cream sherry. Top with reserved onions and red pepper and heat until shrimp cooks through, about 3 minutes. Sauce should be reduced; turn heat to low. Remove garlic-parsley butter from refrigerator and add to skillet in teaspoonfuls. Sauce will thicken. Remove from heat.
To serve, divide grits between 4 rimmed soup bowls. Stand 6 shrimp around each mound of grits and divide sauce between each bowl.
Per serving: 719 calories (percent of calories from fat, 51), 53 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 39 grams fat (21 grams saturated), 432 milligrams cholesterol, 405 milligrams sodium.
Is there a restaurant recipe you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to svanatten@ajc.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of restaurant in the subject line.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
