BBQ Shrimp & Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits with Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes, Country Ham, & Red Eye Gravy

BBQ Shrimp & Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits with Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes,
Country Ham, & Red Eye Gravy

Sorry I haven't posted anything in like a week. We've been up at the mountain house since Thursday and we aren't coming back until Tuesday. But, I will try to post a recipe the next two days to make it up to y'all. Meanwhile, I'll keep enjoying the peace and quiet, along with bonfires, s'mores, fried chicken, pumpkin carvin', hikes, and spiked apple cider. Today, I decided to post a new Shrimp & Grits recipe because well, it's one of our favorites as y'all know. In fact, my these shrimp and grits are one of my favorites meals, ever. This time though, I wanted to make a kinda-sorta "brunch version" that would be perfect on a late Sunday morning. The grits are loaded with lots of good stuff... goat cheese, charred corn, and cream. And then, they are topped with a southern sauce called Red Eye Gravy, which gives the dish a nice acidity and sweetness. Also, we all know of my obsession with anything-roasted-tomato, so I piled the plate with some roasted rainbow cherry tomatoes. I decided to toss the shrimp in my favorite BBQ spice rub for a sweet & smoky taste, and it was perfect. And don't you forget to garnish with country ham, green onions, and a little more crumbled goat cheese for good measure!! Enjoy :)

For the Barbequed Shrimp:

1lb Wild Georgia Shrimp, Peeled & Deveined

Your Favorite BBQ Rub

Butter or Oil, For Sautéing

For Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits:

1C Stone-Ground Grits

1 ½C Heavy Cream

½C Milk

1 ½C Chicken Stock 

1C Fresh Corn, Grilled or Charred

6-8oz Creamy Goat Cheese, Room Temperature (plus extra for garnishing)

4T Unsalted Butter

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes:

2C Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes, Cut in Half

Olive Oil, For Drizzling

Salt & Pepper

Fresh Rosemary Sprigs

For the Red Eye Gravy:

4oz Thinly Sliced Country Ham, Cut into Pieces

1T of Reserved Fat (any fat can be substituted)

½C Coffee

¼C Coke

1T Maple Syrup (plus extra if you want it a little sweeter)

1 Beef Bouillon Cube

2T Unsalted Butter

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

A Splash of Water (it may be needed, this is optional)

For the Shrimp & Grits:

Prepared BBQ Shrimp, Cooked

Prepared Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits

Prepared Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes

Prepared Red Eye Gravy

Thinly Sliced Green Onions, For Garnishing

Crumbled Goat Cheese, For Garnishing

Directions:

1. For the BBQ Shrimp: Toss the shrimp in your favorite BBQ dry rub until coated. In a large sauté pan, melt some butter or oil. Add the seasoned shrimp and cook until just done and still tender (don’t overcook). Remove the shrimp from the sauté pan and set them aside on a plate until ready to serve.

2. For the Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits: Bring heavy cream, milk and chicken stock to a gentle boil in a heavy saucepan. Add grits and reduce heat to medium low. Whisk occasionally at first, then whisk more frequently as the grits begin to thicken, watching carefully to make sure the bottom of the pot does not scald. Cook until the grits are thick and creamy, about 45 minutes to an hour. Add more liquid if you feel they are too thick, and continue cooking until desired consistency is reached. Season generously with salt and butter, adjusting to personal taste. Stir in the corn and goat cheese into the grits. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve.

3. For the Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes: Preheat oven to 400 °. Toss tomatoes with olive oil and kosher salt and arrange on a sheet pan cut side up. Top the tomatoes with a few sprigs of rosemary. Cook for approximately one hour until they are soft, shriveling, and turning golden brown.

4. For the Red Eye Gravy: Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the ham and renderuntil golden brown. Remove the ham from the pan and set aside on a plate and keep warm. To the pan, add the coffee, coca cola, and maple syrup and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the butterand the bouillon cubeand stir to incorporate. Reduce the sauce in half to thicken slightly. Taste the sauce and season with salt & pepper to taste and possibly a splash of water.

5. For the Shrimp & Grits: Scoop some of the Charred Corn-Goat Cheese Grits into a deep bowl, and then spoon on some of the Red Eye Gravy over the top. Add on the roasted rainbow cherry tomatoes and BBQ shrimp. Garnish with green onions, crispy country ham, and crumbled goat cheese. Enjoy immediately.

Revamped: Meat Lover's Breakfast Pizza with Bacon, Sausage, & Country Ham topped with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, & Chives on White Truffle Oil Pizza Dough

Hey y'all, I hope you're having a great weekend! It's seriously been madness around here, I haven't even had a chance to breathe! I cooked a full dinner for 6 of my Mountain Man's family last night, and I think everything turned out good (insert sigh of relief). Anyway, I don't have much time to post my recipe for today because we're about to run out the door and head to Wormsloe Plantation, shop downtown, cook dinner again, and then go on a ghost tour. But for this morning I have a revamped version of our breakfast pizza. We had made this before and it was excellent. So much so, that we gobbled down most of it before I could take a picture, so I knew I wanted to revamp this pizza, but also add a whole bunch of new toppings. We added sausage, country ham (or prosciutto), roasted cherry tomatoes, and goat cheese. Then, I put it on my homemade white truffle oil pizza dough that we have recently became obsessed with. This is the ultimate breakfast people, people. You gotta make it!! Enjoy :)

For the White Truffle Pizza Dough:

1 ½C Warm Water

1t Active Dry Yeast

4C AP Flour

1t Truffle Salt

½t Sugar

1/3C White Truffle Oil

For the Roasted Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes:

1C Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes, Cut in Half

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

For the Pizza:

1 Batch of Homemade Pizza Dough (I used my White Truffle Oil Pizza Dough)

Homemade Pesto

2C Mozzarella, Shredded

½C Parmesan Cheese, Freshly Grated

8 Strips of Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cubed & Cooked until Crispy

¼C Breakfast Sausage, Crumbled & Cooked

5 Large Eggs

Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper, For Sprinkling

2oz Crumbled Goat Cheese

4oz Country Ham, Thinly Sliced (Prosciutto or Serrano Ham can be substituted)

Prepared Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

1T Fresh Parsley, Minced

2T Fresh Chives, Minced

1 Scallions, Thinly Sliced

Directions:

1. For the White Truffle Pizza Dough: Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. In a mixer, combine flour and truffle salt. With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle in the white truffle oil or until just combined with the flour. Next, pour in the yeast mixture and mix until just combined. Coat a separate bowl with a light drizzle of white truffle oil and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat the dough, and then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 day, but preferably 3-4 days.

2. For the Roasted Rainbow Tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and toss the tomatoes lightly with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out in one even layer on a baking sheet. Roast the tomatoes for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. Set them aside until ready to use.

3. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and roll out or press the pizza dough as thinly as possible and place onto a large baking sheet or a pizza pan.

4. Assembling the Pizza: On top of the dough, spread a layer of homemade pizza (use as little or as much as you like). Scatter the shredded mozzarella in an even layer over the pesto, and then grate some Parmesan over the top of the mozzarella. Now, pick five spots that you would like to crack the eggs into. Once you’ve picked your spots, make a well into the cheese, and then crack the eggs directly into the wells and sprinkle the eggs with salt & pepper (this is important because when you crack the eggs into them, they won’t spread into the other ingredients or off the pizza). Scatter the bacon and sausage evenly across the pizza, making sure to not put any ingredients on top of the eggs.

5. Bake the pizza in the preheated oven to 8-12 minutes depending on how much your want to cook your eggs (mine was cooked perfectly at 10 minutes). Remove from the oven and distribute the crumbled goat cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes, and country ham. Finally garnish the pizza with fresh parsley, chives, and scallions. Cut the breakfast pizza into squares or slices and serve immediately.

Pickled Deviled Eggs with Country Ham & Sriracha Powder

Pickled Deviled Eggs with Country Ham & Sriracha Powder

We had the best meal last night for our Memorial Day Cookout. We made a few things and all of them were just top notch. Our dinner consisted of Pickled Deviled Eggs with Country Ham & Sriracha Powder, Gourmet Chili-Cheese-Slaw Dogs with a bunch of fixin's, & some decadent S'more Brownies Bars that rocked my world. But today, I'm going to start off with the Pickled Deviled Eggs. Do y'all like deviled eggs? I don't. I absolutely don't. I know that's probably sacrilege here in the South. But, they have just always grossed me out. I actually hadn't ever eaten one until about 2 weeks ago when we went to our favorite Atlanta restaurant, JCT Kitchen. Apparently, they are very well known for their deviled eggs that are topped with country ham (sorta like the prosciutto of the South). Well, I had one bite of their eggs, and I was instantly sold. So, I came home and started researching for the best recipe. After looking around, I came across the most clever idea, which involved pickling the hard-boiled eggs with a beet-vinegar mixture. This brine tinges the outside of the eggs hot pink making them absolutely adorable & more likable.   I love that they are pickled because it gives them a nice bite while also taking away some of the sulfur-y egg flavor that has always turned me off in the past. The best part of the pickled deviled eggs are the toppings. I especially loved the homemade Sriracha Powder. It takes on the usual role of a traditional deviled egg that has been sprinkled with paprika. But please, don't skimp out on the country ham topping, it really brings these over the top. If you don't live in the South or don't have access to buying country ham, you could easily substitute it with some prosciutto or serrano ham. Well, I hope that y'all had a happy Memorial Day celebration and some great grub!! Enjoy :)

Here's the Deviled Pickled Eggs with just a sprinkling of Sriracha Powder 

Don't they look purdy all lined up?

I love the country ham topping!!

For the Beet Pickling Liquid:

3C Water

1C Distilled White Vinegar

1 Small Beet, Peeled & Sliced

¼ Vidalia Onion, Minced

1 Clove of Garlic, Minced

1T Brown Sugar

1T Pink Peppercorns

1T Pickling Spice

½t Salt

For the Sriracha Powder:

Sriracha

For the Pickled Deviled Eggs:

10 Hard-Boiled Eggs, Pickled & Sliced in Half

Prepared Beet Pickling Liquid

¼C Mayo

1T Goat Cheese

2t Grainy Mustard

Salt & Pepper, To Taste

1t Fresh Chives, Minced (plus more for garnishing)

Thinly Sliced Country Ham, Torn into Pieces (you need 20 pieces)

Olive Oil, For Drizzling

Prepared Sriracha Powder, For Sprinkling

Directions:

1. For the Beet Pickling Liquid: Cook your eggs by your preferred method, and then peel them. Bring the water, vinegar, beet, onion, garlic, sugar, pickling spice, and salt to a boil in a small pan, and then lower the heat to simmer the liquid, uncovered, until the beet is tender, about 20 minutes. Cool the liquid completely, uncovered. Place the cooked eggs into a container or large Mason jar, and pour the beet pickling liquid over them until they are completely submerged. Chill the pickled eggs for 12-24 hours. The longer the time, the stronger the color and flavor will be, but also the eggs will be firmer in texture. I did 16 hours and loved the results. 
2. For the Sriracha Powder: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silpat. Spread as much Sriracha as you want onto the silpat, making sure it is as thin as possible. Bake the Sriracha for roughly 60-90 minutes, depending on how much you did. The Sriracha should be completely dry and beginning to flake. Using a sharp knife, scrape the dried Sriracha until all of it has been lifted from the silpat. Place the flakes into a plastic bag, and then hit the bag with a rolling pin, so that it is completely crushed and resembles a powder. It should look very similar to paprika or cayenne. Place into a container or jar. Set it aside until you are ready to sprinkle on top of the deviled eggs.
3. Remove the eggs from the beet pickling liquid and pat them dry. Cut each egg in half lengthwise and remove the yolks into a small bowl. Mash the yolks with the mayo, goat cheese, grainy mustard, chives, and seasonings. Whisk until smooth. Place the seasoned yolk mixture into a piping bag, and pipe it evenly amongst the egg white shells. Top each egg with a piece of country ham, a sprinkling of Sriracha powder, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of fresh chives.
4. Serve chilled. 

source: pickled deviled eggs. sriracha powder.