Cajun Style Shrimp and Grits

This recipe for �Cajun Style Shrimp and Grits� was inspired by a restaurant called Castaways Raw Bar and Grill that is located at Holden Beach in North Carolina. This restaurant serves this dish with large portions of shrimps and grits that are spicy. Expect that the taste of this recipe version to be a little bit zesty. It has green onions and tasso ham to balance the Cajun spice that is mixed in it. It will be impossible to resist this Cajun Style Shrimp and Grits when you serve it up on your own dining table!

Before we move on to this recipe, we thought it would be fun to share with you a little trivia about Cajun cooking. This style of cooking came from the Acadian people whose first language was French. Around the early 18th century, the British government deported these people from Acadia, Canada to settle in Louisiana, USA. Since inhabiting that state, they developed a rustic cuisine now known as the Cajun style. The traditional way to do it involved 3 pots, one for the main dish, the other for the steamed rice with sausages or seafood; and the last pot is for the vegetable that one desires to mix it with. Shrimps and sausages are usually the only meats used for this style of cooking.

The Acadians weren't used to the climate of Louisiana, so even their original recipes also changed to go in line with the weather. Eventually, their original recipes were lost because of this change and that's pretty much how they have developed the classic Cajun dishes that we all know now. It's just amazing how this cuisine has evolved over the years from where and how it started. Change was indeed inevitable, and some of the changes were for good reason, like this modern version of Cajun dishes.

Speaking of which, this recipe that we're featuring is going to be easier than you expected. This could serve six people, and it will only take a total of 32 minutes of your cooking time. For the ingredients, just ready your olive oil, about two ounces of tasso ham, onion, garlic, shrimps, Cajun seasoning, water, unsalted butter, fat-free milk, salt, uncooked quick-cooking grits, cheddar cheese and some green onions. You will need a large skillet to cook all the ingredients in and make sure that the stove is of medium-high heat.

You can start off by heating some olive oil in the large skillet and add the tasso, cooking for a couple of minutes or until the edges are golden. Then add the onion and saute a couple more minutes. Add the garlic and saute. Then you can add the shrimp and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning and cook for a few minutes. Add some water and scrape down the pan to loosen all those tasty browned bits that we all love so much. Remove from heat and add some butter stirring to melt, then cover the pan to keep warm. Then you can bring the milk, salt and water to a boil over medium to high heat. Reduce the heat and gradually add in the grits, cooking until the mixture is thick and bubbly, stirring often with a whisk. At this point you can remove the grits off of the heat, and stir with a whisk until the cheese melts perfectly.

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