For shrimp and grits in minutes, learn to multitask

For a dish that is, in itself, pretty quick and easy, shrimp and grits turns out to be surprisingly tricky to throw together under five-ingredient and 30-minute constraints.

Take the star of the dish itself — frozen peeled and deveined shrimp are an excellent shortcut ingredient, but they do need to be thawed before use. Those grits? Finely ground quick grits cook quickly, but they do require some attention and, of course, time to bring water to a boil. And this doesn’t take into account any chopping and slicing you may need to do, plus gathering up any flavor boosters you may need to turn such a streamlined dish into an exciting recipe.

The one way around these challenges is to challenge your inner Rachel Ray and multitask. Thaw the shrimp in cold water while you slice a shallot and a few cloves of garlic. Next, begin heating your pot of water; once it boils, reduce the heat and cover the pot until you’re ready to handle the grits. By this time, the shrimp should be thawed, so set to sauteing them with those sliced alliums in plenty of butter. The shrimp will let off some liquid, but that’s okay — think of it as an instant sauce. Keep the shrimp warm while you whisk together the grits. Add a final pat of butter — and some salt and pepper — in the grits, plus a smattering of lemon zest and juice on the shrimp, and you’re done.