SOUTHERN GRITS WITH A YANKEE TWIST

So here we are two days left till the challenge. And Chef Emi Has us back into the kitchen to do one more practice challenge. We are so over Chocolate torte, fajita soup and some beef for us to torch or serve up raw. So let’s just have some fun, let’s just go into the kitchen and just relax; and do something different. I am in the mood for my macaroni and cheese. Annette is in the mood for Apple pie.
Our thoughts were a little a skewed when we arrived to class and Chef Emi announces we are making Shrimp and Grits. Only not just shrimp and grits but think out of the box of shrimp and grits. Well Annette and I two Yankee girls who never really had any feelings of affection towards grits in general all of a sudden love shrimp and grits. Odd! And it’s going to be really cool in another month or so when my mom comes for a visit and I am going to serve her up some grits, since she now has some allergies towards wheat products.
Annette and I are little excited, we are just ready to have a little fun and relax the cooking stress we have had lately. First step was the out of the box element of the Shrimp and Grits. Annette has this idea, make a great sauce, and let’s get them into some puff pastry. Oh how I love this idea, I already know what they are going to look like. I am thinking lime and garlic marinade for the steak, get the mac and cheese done and some nicely sautéed shrooms on the side. For dessert we didn’t have apple to make pie so we grabbed some frozen strawberries and Annette asked me to make my pie pastry. Not really sure where will go with those items, but hey it will work.
So I started on the marinade and got the steak in the fridge to chill down and get some flavor to it. By that time the water was up and started for the grits, and we got that done, worked on my killer red pepper sauce for the shrimp, and tossed the shrimp into the sauce. Annette has the puff pastry started and oh wow, these are going to be killer appetizers. Started the cheese sauce for the mac and cheese and made some more lime garlic sauce. Annette started in on the dessert, strawberries and ricotta cheese some lemon juice and sugar, and it’s a pink gloppy mess. Annette doesn’t like it and so starts from scratch and I got the pie crust done. Threw them on the bottoms of these muffin tins to make like a bowl and baked them up. While the crust was baking I grabbed the steak and threw that on the grill and seared that all up.
Appetizers were just pretty little packages with some of the red pepper sauce across the dish. Chef Ellerbe was more excited about the shrimp and grits night than anyone else. I think we took care of his appetite tonight with our shrimp and grits surprise package.
Entrée was a very nice grilled steak, my baked macaroni and extra sharp white cheese sauce and some lovely mushrooms and the limey garlic sauce drizzled on the plate. Chef Emi liked the sauce, and this was a good thing since we decided to go with the lime garlic sauce for the challenge.
Annette really had fun with creating an upside down strawberry short cake. I understand that since there was no dessert left for to taste that must have been pretty good since fellow student chef Louwen ate it all. It was a good night all around and next time we come into this kitchen it will be with 21 other teams. YIKES!