Italian Shrimp and Grits

Ever since I introduced polenta to my husband a few months ago, he’s been asking for it for dinner every night. Overjoyed for a starch other than roasted potatoes, I have been trying to incorporate it into a variety of meals. One of my favorite ways to prepare polenta is to stir in some herbed goat cheese, yum!


Tonight we decided to give something new a try, an Italian take on shrimp and grits. The polenta itself was just a normal recipe, I usually do half water or stock and half milk, and finish it off with some butter and grated Parmesan.

For the shrimp, I rendered some diced bacon. Pancetta would be more Italian, but that’s not what I had on hand. After removing the bacon, I sautéed some onion, garlic, and chili flakes in the remaining bacon fat. Then, I added a can of tomatoes and let the sauce reduce down a bit. About five minutes before the polenta was done, I added the shrimp to the tomato sauce. I usually shell my shrimp before adding them to dishes because I don’t like to be slowed down later during the eating/enjoying process. The shrimp shells, however, would offer a little more “shrimpy” flavor to the sauce. When the shrimp were done I just tore a little fresh basil into the sauce for garnish. Top the polenta with the tomato and shrimp sauce and there you go!

This is a really great quick and satisfying meal. You can have everything done in the time it takes you to make the polenta, about 25 minutes, unless, of course, you use the quick-cooking variety. (Insert “My Cousin Vinny” quote here). I think any recipe that starts off with some rendered bacon is probably going to be pretty darn good, and this definitely did not disappoint!