Stone-Ground Shrimp and Grits

December in Louisiana is not December anywhere else. There's no snow. There's rarely even a convincing frost. The Christmas decorations go up while people are still wearing shorts, and the inflatable Santas on the lawns look like they're melting in the seventy-degree sunshine. But somehow it works. Somehow the lights on the live oaks and the garland on the porches and the sound of Cajun Christmas music on the radio — "Joyeux Noël" sung with an accordion and a fiddle — make it feel like Christmas even though you're sweating.

We put up the tree this weekend. Danielle is a tree person — she has opinions about the tree the way I have opinions about gumbo, which is to say: specific, non-negotiable, and rooted in a tradition that predates rational thought. The tree must be real (noble fir, from the lot on Airline Highway). It must be at least seven feet tall. It must have lights before ornaments, and the lights must be white, not colored, because colored lights are "tacky" and Danielle will die on this hill. The ornaments are a mix of family heirlooms, school projects (Luc's macaroni star from first grade is, I'm told, the pièce de résistance), and the random collection that accumulates over eleven years of marriage — the LSU ornament, the crawfish ornament, the ornament from our honeymoon in Destin that's chipped but still hanging because you don't throw away honeymoon ornaments.

Luc helped with the lights and tried to put colored ones on the back side of the tree where Danielle couldn't see. Danielle could see. Danielle can always see. Colette organized the ornaments by category before hanging them, because she is Colette and organization is her love language. Rémy hung three ornaments on the same branch, at the bottom, within reach, and declared the tree "done." It was not done. But his contribution was noted and appreciated.

I made a pot of shrimp and grits on Saturday — not strictly a December dish, but grits are warm and shrimp is Louisiana and the combination is the kind of comfort that a cold(ish) December Saturday deserves. Stone-ground grits, cooked slow with butter and cream until they're thick and silky. Gulf shrimp sautéed in butter with garlic, green onion, and a splash of hot sauce. Andouille coins, crisped in the pan. Assembled in a bowl: grits on the bottom, shrimp and andouille on top, the pan sauce drizzled over everything. This is not a dish that photographs well — it's brown and beige and looks like something a bachelor made at midnight — but it tastes like the Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana countryside had a baby and that baby was raised on butter. Which is basically what we are.

Mama called to discuss Christmas plans. She wants everyone at the cottage. She wants to do réveillon — the traditional Cajun Christmas Eve feast, a massive meal served after midnight mass. I said yes before she finished the sentence, because réveillon at Mama's is the single best meal of the year, and I will drive any distance, in any weather, to sit at her table at midnight and eat whatever she's been cooking since dawn. Some things are sacred. Réveillon is sacred. The cottage at Christmas is sacred. And Mama, standing at her stove at 11 PM, stirring something that smells like heaven and cayenne — that is the most sacred thing of all.

After hanging up with Mama, I stood in my kitchen thinking about réveillon — about midnight tables and sacred things and the particular comfort of cooking something that connects you to where you came from — and I knew I wasn’t done eating for the night. Stone-ground shrimp and grits is my version of that feeling: humble ingredients, patient cooking, nothing that photographs well, everything that matters. Here’s how I make it.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the grits:
1 cup stone-ground grits (not instant)
4 cups water
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
For the shrimp and andouille:
1 lb Gulf shrimp, peeled and deveined (16—20 count)
8 oz andouille sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch coins
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, sliced thin (whites and greens separated)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon hot sauce (Crystal or Louisiana brand)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Start the grits. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Slowly whisk in the stone-ground grits in a thin stream, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Reduce heat to low.
Cook low and slow. Simmer the grits uncovered, stirring every few minutes, for 35—40 minutes until thick and tender. Stone-ground grits take time — do not rush them. Add water a splash at a time if they start to seize up.
Finish the grits. Stir in the heavy cream and butter over low heat until fully absorbed. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm while you build the topping.
Crisp the andouille. In a large cast-iron or heavy skillet over medium-high heat, cook the andouille coins in a single layer for 2—3 minutes per side until browned and crisped. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan.
Build the sauce base. Reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet. Add the green onion whites and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute until fragrant — don’t let the garlic brown.
Deglaze and reduce. Add chicken broth, hot sauce, and Worcestershire. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the sauce simmer for 2—3 minutes until slightly reduced.
Cook the shrimp. Pat shrimp dry and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the pan, then add shrimp in a single layer. Cook 1—2 minutes per side until pink and just cooked through. Return the andouille to the pan and toss everything together in the sauce for 30 seconds.
Assemble and serve. Spoon a generous mound of grits into each bowl. Top with shrimp, andouille coins, and a drizzle of the pan sauce. Finish with sliced green onion tops and fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Stone-Ground Shrimp and Grits — The December Saturday That Smells Like the Gulf