Best-ever Shrimp and Grits

I've heard that no two people make shrimp and grits exactly alike. Heck, I don't even make it the same way twice in a row, mostly because I don't tend to follow recipes. Funny, huh, since I write recipes? But those are mainly for the folks who don't prefer to wing it, as I do. At any rate, most of the time I throw stuff together with what ingredients I have on hand. In this particular case, I really only had the basics: shrimp, and grits. I also had some andouille sausage--albeit a mild but still flavorful rope of Johnsonville brand--and a batch of homemade Emeril's "Essence," aka Cajun seasoning. Alas, I didn't have any fresh bell pepper or celery, two-thirds of the holy trinity of Creole and Cajun cooking, but I did have an onion. A decent start, but not quite enough.

I scrounged in the cupboard, hoping I had a jar of roasted red peppers. What I found was one jar of sundried tomatoes and another of Trader Joe's Sweet Picante Peppers with Creamy Cheesy Filling. Hoping these wouldn't be too sweet, I cracked open the jar and popped one into my mouth. MMmmmm! Not as sweet as Peppadews, a bit softer in texture. These would work! I squeezed out the cheesy filling to use in the grits, and chopped up some smoked gouda--who doesn't like cheesy grits? There were some leftover mushrooms in the fridge as well. Why not? 

I wasn't really surprised that the finished dish was tasty. While the elements were thrown together somewhat haphazardly, none of them were particularly weird. There were lots of good textures: smooth grits, perfectly cooked shrimp, soft mushrooms and onions, the slight chew of sundried tomatoes. Since most of the ingredients were pre-seasoned, I really only needed a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture while cooking the onion and mushrooms. It all worked amazingly well, enough for Mr Minx to declare the dish "restaurant quality." 

Shrimp & Grits

This was so good, I'm recording the recipe so I could maybe make it again some day. Not that I'll ever have this same perfect storm of ingredients on hand. But maybe?

For the shrimp:

1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 large onion, sliced

4 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

pinch salt

1/2 13.5-ounce pack Johnsonville Andouille sausage, sliced about 1/3" thick

6-7 Trader Joes Sweet Picante Peppers with Creamy Cheesy Filling

3-4 sundried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped

For the grits:

2 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup regular or old fashioned (not quick) grits

2-ish ounces chopped smoked gouda

the cheese from the picante peppers

garlic powder

Chopped parsley for garnish 

To make the shrimp:

Toss the shrimp in a bowl with the Cajun seasoning and a healthy drizzle of the olive oil. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Put the onion and mushrooms in a saute pan with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the veg have given up their liquid and have softened and browned a bit. Scrape into a bowl and set aside. 

Add a touch more oil to the pan and brown the sausage pieces.

While the sausage is cooking, squeeze the cheese from the peppers. Chop the peppers roughly. Add the peppers and the sundried tomatoes to the onion and mushrooms. Add the browned sausage to the bowl. Deglaze the saute pan with a bit of water--half a cup or so--and add that water to the bowl, too.

Cook the shrimp in the same pan over medium-high heat, turning once, until all shrimp are opaque on both sides. A tip: don't walk away while you're cooking shrimp. They cook FAST. You just need 3-4 minutes. After that, they're on the fast track to rubber-town. Once the shrimp are opaque, pour in the veg and water, turn the heat up to high, and bring to a boil. Cook until everything is hot, just a couple minutes. Taste the liquid for seasoning and add more salt and Cajun seasoning if you think it needs it.

To make the grits:

Bring the water to a boil. Whisk in the grits, then turn the heat down to low. Cover the pot and cook until the grits have absorbed the water and become tender, stirring occasionally, 15-20 minutes. Add the cheeses and the garlic powder and stir until the cheese is completely melted.

Dollop the grits onto plates, spoon shrimp mixture on top. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Serves 3-4, depending on appetite.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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A Different Kind of Pumpkin Soup

I use a spreadsheet to keep track of dinners and have at least 4-5 meals in a row planned out. I account for new items, restaurant dinners, and the using up of leftovers. But some nights I throw caution to the wind and change things up. Inspiration does that to you. Of course, that means  the spreadsheet must be altered to reflect the change. Friday's dinner was to be frittata; we have lots of eggs, and various odds and ends to add to them. But it was cold outside, which made me think of soup. I remembered that I had a couple of cans of pumpkin in the cupboard, and some Mexican chorizo in the freezer. Why not combine them to make something totally different?

Mr Minx will eat pumpkin soup--as long as it's not sweet. I ordinarily make a curried version, but the Mexican-style seasonings I had received from Spicewalla were calling my name. Spicewalla spices are always very fresh, and their blends are interesting and tasty. They have somewhat esoteric stuff like furikake, mignonette blend (for raw oysters, or dips and salad dressings), and golden milk spice mix, but also "everything bagel," and taco seasoning. And they come in the cutest little tins. The taco seasoning and another one I like a lot, Chilli Lime, were employed to season this particular batch of pumpkin soup, as I knew they would work with the Mexican chorizo. Both the spices and the chorizo contain chiles, so if you're a wimp when it comes to hot foods, you might want to cut back on the amounts of both, maybe up the brown sugar a bit. Or find another recipe--my feelings won't be hurt. Personally, I think the proportion of spice to pumpkin I used is just perfect. Hot enough to know that it's spicy, but not hot enough to burn anything important. YMMV, of course.

Cilantro is one of my favorite herbs, but if you don't like it, leave it out. The soup will be missing something, but the cilantro averse won't even notice. 

Pumpkin Spicewalla Soup

About 1/4 of a standard supermarket bunch of cilantro 
1 medium onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 poblano pepper, seeds removed, diced 

2 cloves garlic, minced

4-6 ounces Mexican-style pork chorizo (I used Cacique brand)

2 teaspoons EACH Spicewalla** Chilli Lime and Mom's Taco seasonings*

2 15-ounce cans pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1 quart of chicken stock

1 empty pumpkin can-full of water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish, optional

Cubed avocado for garnish, optional

Thoroughly wash the cilantro. Remove 3" - 4" of the stems and chop them coarsely. Set the leaves aside for garnish.

Add the vegetables, garlic, and chorizo (remove from casing, if any) to a 4- or 5-quart lidded pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until vegetables are wilted and chorizo is broken down into small particles and distributed evenly through the vegetables, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cilantro stems and the Spicewalla seasonings and cook 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, chicken stock, and the water. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Turn down the heat until the soup is just simmering, cover the pot, and cook 30 minutes. Add the brown sugar. 

Taste for seasoning and add salt, or more of the Spicewalla seasoning blends. Ladle into bowls and garnish with pumpkin seeds, reserved cilantro leaves, and avocado, if desired.

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts

*If you don't want to splash out for new seasonings, then you can use a couple teaspoons of regular taco seasoning, or a combination of ground coriander and cumin. Most supermarket taco seasonings are muy salty, while individual spices are not salty at all, so you'll have to watch the balance there. 

** Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.

Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Product of the Week - Runamok Maple Grenadine

Welcome to a new feature on Minxeats! Every once in a while, we'll present to you one of our favorite store-bought products. It might be a chip, or cereal, or condiment, and it will definitely be something that we purchase and consume regularly. We hope you are curious enough to check out our suggestions, and if you do, let us know by leaving a comment.

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Grenadine is a sweet and tart non-alcoholic syrup that is commonly used as a flavoring and coloring agent in various cocktails including classic Shirley Temples and Tequila Sunrises, as well as several other mixed drinks.

The word "grenadine" is derived from the French word "grenade," which means pomegranate, as it has traditionally been made from the juice of that fruit, simply reduced and with sugar added. Over time, the recipe evolved, and some commercial versions may no longer contain pomegranate juice as their primary ingredient, instead relying on citric acid, food coloring, and artificial flavorings to achieve a similar flavor and vibrant red color. (Rose's, for example, contains high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, preservatives, Red 40, natural and artificial flavors, and Blue 1.) Commercial grenadine is also more sticky and sweet than the original, about as close as a neon-red cocktail cherry is to an actual fresh fruit. 

One can make their own grenadine by cooking pomegranate juice with sugar until its reduced to a syrup, but why go to the trouble? 

You already know Runamok's products are among my very favorites because I've posted about them numerous times in the past, so my next sentence won't be particularly surprising. Runamok Maple Grenadine is even better than homemade. It's truly tart, because it's made with both pomegranate and lime, and it's sweetened with pure and delicious maple syrup. (Their whole line of cocktail mixer thingies are fabulous, including the maple bitters and the Smoked Old Fashioned mixer made with pecan wood-smoked maple syrup. Expensive, yes, but you only need a tablespoon to make a sublime drink. But I digress.) And while it's perfect to use in a cocktail, I find myself using it as a substitute for the pomegranate syrup called for in many Middle Eastern recipes. For example, my favorite recipe for Muhammara--a red pepper and walnut dip--calls for 2 teaspoons of pomegranate molasses, but I often find myself using a tablespoon of Runamok Maple Grenadine instead. It's both sweeter and more tart than the brand of pom molasses currently in my cupboard, so it hits both of the essential flavor points that I feel just about every recipe needs. 

Try substituting it for the pom molasses in these recipes: Lamb Meatballs with Spiced Sweet Potato Puree and Yogurt Sauce, Chicken with Walnut Pepper Sauce. It's also great drizzled on Bobby Flay's roasted brussels sprouts, 

And here's a classic drink recipe, modernized with booze. I used to beg for a Shirley Temple when my parents would take me to a nice restaurant. It made me feel grown up, even though I was essentially drinking a pink soda. I'll drink them now, too, but with the addition of good vodka.

Dirty Shirley

2 ounces vodka of your choice

1 ounce Runamok Maple Grenadine

Lemon lime soda

Maraschino cherries with stems

Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the vodka and grenadine. Pour in about 4 ounces of the soda and stir. Add more soda, if desired. Garnish with a cherry or two. 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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NY Dining, Winter 2025 Edition

I can't believe I just had to type 2025!

And yes, despite the extreme cold that's been hanging around in the mid-Atlantic region, I packed my stuff and headed to my personal Disneyland, my happiest place on Earth--New York City. And I ate some stuff. But not as much as usual. Still, stuff. Allow me to share my musings on my dining experiences.

My first meal of the trip was a Monday lunch. I briefly contemplated two courses at Cafe Carmellini, but decided the handsome amount of money that would involve should go toward a bottle of perfume. My main agenda for the three day excursion revolved around visiting various perfume shops, with the intention of making at least one fragrant purchase. (I made five.)

One of the stops on my list was The Maker Hotel shop on 16th Street, so for the sake of convenience, I ate lunch next door at The Grey Dog Chelsea.

Guacamole toast? They were very generous with the toppings.

The avocado toast sounded good. What I wanted was a nice piece of seeded multigrain toast topped with several slices of perfectly salted avocado and a fried egg. I got the bread, but the avocado was excessively lime-y, rather mashed, and much more like guacamole than I was in the mood for. My over-medium eggs were perfect though, and the side of home fries was tasty enough though completely unnecessary. (I can't put away as much food as I was able to in the past.)

I had popped into Levain Bakery before lunch to grab a gluten-free cookie for later. It was one of their typically behemoth, scone-sized, lumps--which is really quite delicious when made with gluten. And not at all delicious when made with gluten-free flour. It tasted...gluten-free, which can be a rather sad flavor when one is used to the taste of wheat flour. 

That evening, I had dinner at the bar at Zaytinya. One of Jose Andres' original DC concepts, there is now a location not far from my usual hotel. Since I had passed on a spendy lunch and was disappointed with what I did eat, I thought I'd splurge on something that was bound to be delicious. After all, one of my favorite meals in NY is pretty much anything at his Hudson Yards food hall, Little Spain. Especially the eggs with morcilla (blood sausage). Incredibly, I found everything at Zaytinya to be...meh. The za'atar margarita seemed a little saltier than a normal marg, but it didn't scream of za'atar. The scallops were a relative bargain at $23 for four fat ones, but the rather flavorless apple cacik (the Turkish version of tzatziki) really didn't work for me, and the promised "sesame rose spice" was undetectable. I hoped the smoked beet salata would remind me of the incredible beet and pistachio salad I had eaten last summer at a local French restaurant. It did not. There was too much arugula and the honeycrisp apple chunks had zero flavor (and was probably the same kind of apple included in the scallops' sauce). The beets themselves were fine, though I'd have preferred more of them. Finally, though I didn't need a third dish, I ordered the brussels sprouts because the waiter was still looking at me expectantly. I requested the garlic yogurt to be served on the side (and should have done so with the cacik) as I am lactose-intolerant. The sprouts were nicely crispy, but were otherwise rather boring. A disappointment.

My palate fared much better on day two, which I started at Dominique Ansel Workshop. A perfectly fluffy and tender French omelette filled with Boursin cheese and nestled into a crisp croissant made a perfect breakfast, especially paired with a big cup of La Colombe cafe au lait d'avoine (oatmilk). 

scallop toast

Later, I met up with my friend Daisy, whose company makes even the most delicious meal that much better than it would be without her. We dined at Chinese Tuxedo, a contemporary Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Among the dishes we sampled were the braised black pepper oxtail bun, crystal shrimp spring roll, and scallop toast from the dim sum menu (all fantastic)...

...and the Johny fried rice with shrimp, char siu, and pork floss, the stir fried Snake River beef sirloin with kampot pepper, and the stir fried iceberg lettuce. Again, all fantastic. I'd eat there again.

Mealtime with Daisy usually means multiple stops, so after walking a bit, we took a cab up to Koreatown and had a few super crispy wings at Turntable on 33rd Street. The flavors were bright and the texture appealing. In retrospect, these wings were the culinary highlight of my entire trip.

The next morning, I had a nice breakfast at The Harold, which is conveniently located near my hotel. I ordered the wild mushroom scramble, which was had to include 3-4 eggs and a good half pound of mushrooms. I knew there'd be toast, but not the rosemary potatoes. They're delicious, but made for far too much to eat in one sitting. Next time, I'll ask them to omit the 'taters. 

For a snack, I enjoyed a Midnight Dream (black sesame, espresso, oatmilk) at Elorea, a cute Korean perfume shop with a coffee bar at the back. (I will be going back someday to make a fragrance purchase.)

Finally, I had an early dinner/late lunch at Parm. This is their eggplant parmesan on a sesame seed roll. My server said it was his favorite thing on the menu, and suggested I get the hoagie-sized version so I could take half home for later. I stuck with the small. It was good, but lacking in textures other than soft. I've mentioned this in the past, but I really miss my mother's fried eggplant. But maybe I'm just obsessed with the memory of the flavor of Progresso Italian Bread Crumbs?

The Grey Dog

242 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011

thegreydog.com

Levain Bakery

2 W 18th St, New York, NY 10011

levainbakery.com

Zaytinya

1185 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

zaytinya.com

Dominique Ansel Workshop

17 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016

dominiqueanselworkshop.com

Chinese Tuxedo

5 Doyers St, New York, NY 10013

chinesetuxedo.com

Turntable

20 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

turntablenyc.com

The Harold

1271 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

theharoldnyc.com

Elorea

41 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

elorea.com

Parm

248 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

parmitalian.com

* Sponsored post. Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy! 

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