Jalapeno Cheese Grits with Beer Shrimp and Charred Succotash

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Creamy grits are loaded with jalapeno and cheese and then served with quick cooking beer shrimp and charred edamame, corn, and tomato succotash. Bright flavors and cheesy goodness! 

Charred food may be one of my current obsessions – did y’all see that charred eggplant I posted awhile back? Truth be told, I love a lot of slightly burned foods… matter of fact, my very favorite hot dog spot in Charlotte is due solely to their ability to char it to perfection. My roasted marshmallows wind up the same way :)

  

Charring, when done correctly and not literally burning the food to a crisp, results in incredible flavor. In this recipe, you lightly char the veggies for the succotash to give a great depth of flavor to the dish. Your cast iron skillet can do this easily on the stovetop so you can make the grits right alongside it.

Corn is readily found fresh so you could easily sub in a couple cobs for the frozen stuff but you’ll need to add the additional step of grilling, cooling, and cutting. I’m lazy, and short on time, so I just charred the bag stuff alongside the edamame. 

If you have all your stuff on hand (ie – not shelling the edamame!), you can easily whip this dish up in 20 minutes or less.

 

Jalapeno Cheese Grits with Beer Shrimp and Charred Succotash

1 bag frozen corn kernels, steamed

1 bag frozen shelled edamame, steamed

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

2 tablespoons cilantro, diced

2 cups water or broth

1 cup quick grits

1 tablespoon butter

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

¼ cup heavy cream

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

½ cup beer

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steamed corn and edamame and cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes or until starting to char. Salt and pepper then remove to a bowl. To the bowl, add the halved tomatoes and chopped cilantro; toss gently.

Meanwhile, bring the water or broth to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the grits and whisk until thickened. Add the heavy cream, butter, diced jalapenos, cheese, salt, and pepper. Whisk until melted and smooth. Keep warm.

In the same cast iron skillet, drizzle a bit of olive oil and add the shrimp. Cook 1 minute, flip, then add beer. Cook another minute or two or until cooked through.

Spoon the grits into individual shallow bowls followed by the shrimp and reserved succotash.