Butter-poached Shrimp and Grits with Mustard Greens

The shopping list at market for this recipe is simple: shrimp from Southport Seafood Co., mustard greens from Fickle Creek Farm or another produce vendor, cheese from Hillsborough Cheese Co., and grits from Muddy Dog Roasting Co.!

Thanks to Jim Pellegrini at Muddy Dog for sharing this recipe and the photo! You can read his blog post about the process and see photos; Jim warns this is simple but not necessarily quick--so consider it for a weekend meal when you have more time.

For four servings (to double, double everything except butter, as 1/2 lb produces enough clarified butter to poach 2 lbs shrimp if you do it in batches)

1 lb shrimp
1 cup Muddy Dog Roasting Co. Roasted Grits

3 cups water
1 tbsp salt
8 cups chopped mustard greens
1/2 lb butter
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup cream, milk, or buttermilk
1/2 cup grated cheese of choice (gouda, cheddar, asiago, parmesan, manchego all good choices)
1/3 cup raisins (optional)

Prepare grits: place dry grits in large saucepan with salt, bay leaf and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add milk and cheese. Simmer another 15 minutes. If grits seem too thick at any point in the process, add small amounts of milk or water (1/8 cup at a time) to adjust consistency. If they are too loose, simmer them harder to evaporate liquid. They should be soft, but a scoop should stay in one place and not ooze all over a plate. (Kind of like the consistency of mashed potatoes or maybe just a little more loose than that.)

While grits are cooking, clarify the butter. Melt it GENTLY in a small saucepan. As soon as it's all melted, remove from heat. Allow milk solids to settle. Skim foam off butter and add the foam to the grits. Then carefully pour off the clarified butter into a shallow saute pan, taking care not to transfer the milk solids.

Add the milks solids to the grits. Add a bay leaf and smash garlic cloves to the clarified butter and bring the clarified butter to about 170F (not higher than 200F). Allow to stand at that temp for at least 10 minutes to infuse garlic and bay leaf flavors.

Prep the greens: Wash well and remove leaves from stems. Retain stems and use them as you would celery. This recipe used mustard greens, but any greens will suffice: collards, kale, chard, spinach, bok choy, tat soy are all great substitutes. Coarsely chop the leaves.

When the grits are done, poach the shrimp by adding them to the 170F butter. Adjust temp to maintain 170F. Let the shrimps poach until they start to look cooked, about 4 or 5 minutes. Turn the shrimps, cook another 3 or 4 minutes.

While shrimps are poaching, wilt the greens in hot oil (use a little clarified butter in a separate saute skillet). Add some raisins (optional). The greens will only need a 20 seconds or so to wilt, so do this immediately before you are ready to plate.

Plate by putting on a thin layer of greens. Add a generous dollop of grits (maybe 1-2 cups). Top with a few poached shrimp. Drizzle with clarified butter (2 TBS per plate). Garnish as you like.

Note that your infused clarified butter will keep well in the fridge and can be used to cook fish, can be added to soups (especially a soupe de poisson, bouillabaisse, etc), eggs, etc., so don't discard it right away. Experiment!