Firecracker shrimp and grits

Tonight's kitchen adventure includes something I've been meaning to make since my work trip to Miami in May. I had a lovely dinner of shrimp and grits at Avalon, and wanted to share it with Brad. I started by marinating some shrimp in "firecracker" sauce, as I found here at The Pioneer Woman. After the shrimp marinated for a few hours, I skewered them and threw them on the grill. While waiting for the shrimp to cook, I boiled up about 4 cups of chicken stock to which I added 2 cups of white grits. I simmered that for about 15 minutes, and near the end, mixed in gobs of mozzarella, cheddar, a bit of parmesan, and sliced scallions. At this point the shrimp was already done, and it was all about plating.

Shrimps, get in my belly!

I also threw together a quick salad side dish, based on something I found from Aida last month in the Food Network magazine. Basically it was fresh sweet corn kernels, grape tomato slices, a small amount of red onion, and plenty of avocado mixed with a simple dressing of olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Simple Summer Salad

While the salad was a favorite of mine, it didn't particularly pair that well with the shrimp dish, which was a bit more hearty. Next time I'd serve the shrimp with a simple green or ceasar salad, and save the summer salad to eat alone with some black beans and good bread. I do love summer eats though!