Grilled Shrimp & Polenta
We’ve returned to Texas after a beautiful week(ish) in Idaho celebrating my sister’s wedding. Everything was so perfect- from a rehearsal dinner packed with family, friends and some really delicious food (and some pretty gorge flowers if I do say so as the florist du jour), to the wedding itself. Idaho in the fall is seriously my favorite- I’m so glad Ben got to finally see it. Some serious tree peeping to be had up there- and you need not look far. It was a jam-packed, super emotional weekend, and we had sooo. Much. Fun. You know those people you get together with, and it’s as though and no time has passed? These are those people for us, and we are super grateful for it. Beyond the obvious tears and toasts (I think I did prettayyyyy good on mine), we danced our faces off, ate a lot of Basque food from the Basque Market (aka my favorite place in Boise), took chilly morning downtown walks, hung out with our niece and nephew, got to hold a new baby in the fam, hung out at my parents’, caught up with cousins, and met new friends. Very, very, very special times, indeed.
On our return home, we treated ourselves to our favorite store…Central Market. I picked up some orange pillar candles, and some orange dahlias, but it’s still 90 freakin’ degrees here in Austin. I’ve got a moment before fall fully ensues here, which is okay (ish, haha). Our garden is lookin’ shabby aside from our prolific pepper and herb plants, and let’s just say…she needs a glow up prior to fall planting. When I say glow-up, I mean we’ve got skeletal remains of tomato plants, a pyramid bed just a-bloomin’ with weeds galore. The weeds in Texas are a different breed. Excuse me, they want you to call it “native growth”, but GUESS WHAT? They’re prehistoric- level dino weeds. I care not the appropriate botanical nickname. Sure, sometimes it’s kind of satisfying and therapeutic to get after it and stand on a shovel to really chop into a root (That’s normal, yes?), but on a macro level, I’d rather not. Our plan is to get some fresh soil, eradicate the dino weeds, and get planting. We’ve got seed potatoes on deck from our crop this year, tons of greens, beans, small Italian squash, onions, cukes and carrots.
While we’re bridging this summer-fall gap, I’ve been making this dinner on repeat, and it seriously feels like I’m taking myself to a nice restaurant every time.
We’ve got super garlicky grilled shrimp, a classic polenta (the recipe by Marcella Hazan because it’s the only polenta recipe I trust), and a really, really delicious but simple sauce. The sauce starts by putting shallots, celery and peppers into a food processor. This is the technique of making a “pestata” in Italian, or paste. However, the ingredient combo of celery, onion and pepper (particularly green pepper) is the Southern trinity, which you often see in shrimp and grits dishes here in this region. Our garden just happens to be overflowing with peppers to the point that I’ve been putting them into everything, and I kind of ending up crossing Italy with Texas in this dish. The results were pretty dang delicious.
When I plated the dish, I grabbed a jar of recently pickled okra and peppers out of the fridge, and topped everything with those crispy, deliciously acidic little gems. Ben’s very sweet co-worker gave us a bunch of okra from her garden, so I was lucky enough to experiment with it, and she actually just gave us even more. So incredibly nice. As someone who grew up on the west coast, okra was something of an unfamiliar ingredient for me. A few friends in Texas here told me about its “sometimes slimy” qualities. That’s less appealing, but they also told me about how it’s delicious fried, and it’s delicious pickled. Immediately yes to both. What I didn’t expect from the okra was this deliciously fresh quality that I really only ever find in a cucumber. Even pickled, it still imparted this fruitiness. It was delicious, and seriously the perfect accompaniment to drive this Texas-turns-Tuscany dish home.
With that, garlicky grilled shrimp, parmigiano-laced polenta, peppery white wine pan sauce, pickled peppers…shall we?
Grilled Shrimp and Polenta
For the polenta (recipe by Marcella Hazan in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking):
(Makes about 4 cups)
7 cups water or broth
1 2/3 cups coarse-grained imported Italian yellow cornmeal
4 T butter
1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
For the sauce:
Extra virgin olive oil
6 T butter, divided
2 shallots
2 stalks celery
6 small Cubanelle peppers
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs oregano
2 t lemon zest
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t old bay seasoning
1 c white wine
2 cups chicken broth
For the shrimp:
20 shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
1 stick butter
8 cloves garlic, grated
2 t lemon zest
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
Place shallots, celery and peppers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse into a paste.
In a large pot, bring the 7 cups of water or broth to a boil. While whisking constantly slowly, gradually pour in the cornmeal. Keep whisking constantly to prevent lumps. The polenta is going to cook for about 45 minutes total, switching with a wooden spoon after about 10 minutes.
About halfway through cooking the polenta, in a dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter, and add a drizzle of olive oil. Add in shallot, celery and pepper mixture. Season with a sprinkle of salt and a few grinds black pepper. Sauté over medium heat. Add in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and sauté a couple minutes more. Add in garlic, herbs and lemon zest. Sauté until, fragrant, about 20 seconds more. Add in the paprika, onion and garlic powder, and old bay. Pour in the wine, and allow to simmer for about 25 seconds, scraping the bottom of the Dutch oven with a wooden spoon. Pour in the broth, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to lowest setting and allow to simmer and reduce for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper along the way. Just before serving, taste and adjust, and then stir in the remaining butter.
Season shrimp with salt and pepper, and thread onto steel skewers. Melt the butter, and add in the garlic and lemon zest, along with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Baste shrimp with the butter, and grill about 1-2 minutes per side, basting along the way.
Plate up the polenta, spooning a generous amount of pan sauce over. Set shrimp atop, with more sauce, and the optional pickled veg. Serve alongside a simple arugula salad, if you wish, dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette and big shavings of parm.
Truly, if you feel like taking yourself out to dinner in your own home…highly recommend this dinner. It’s cozy. It’s slightly elevated. For all intents and purposes, it’s pretty easy. It’s fall warmth meets summer flavors, and I’m here for it. I actually just sent my sister this polenta recipe for their dinner tonight, and TBH, I’m a little jelly. We have leftover lemony chicken meatball soup on deck, which, let’s be real, is the more responsible (and still delish) choice for the under-the-weather people that we currently are.
Wishing you some cozy, beginning-of-fall vibes, and a giant bowl of this shrimp and polenta.
