It’s the first day of Autumn and the hot peppers are still growing like mad. We pretty much gave up on them earlier in the season – they were looking pretty sad. The tomatoes, on the other hand, are history. We did not have our usual stellar harvest.
But peppers… we got.
I went out and snagged a few to fry. We’ve been putting these on everything – and they are smokin’ hot! Another strange thing. They’re much hotter than they have been in the past, as well. I’m not arguing – I like them hot. I’m just a tad surprised.
I split them into two batches and sautéed them in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic – and whisky. We usually do salt, pepper, garlic, and a bit of anchovy, but I saw the whisky bottle and said what the hell.
They have a pretty good shelf life in the ‘fridge – and we tend to eat them on everything – but I’m going to seal and freeze half of them for the dark days of winter when some really hot peppers will come in handy.
I minced half of one tonight for the Shrimp and Grits we had for dinner. It really added a lot of flavor – and heat – without overpowering the dish. Just the way I like it.
This isn’t exactly a low-country recipe, but it came out really good!
Shrimp and Grits
for the grits:
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup grits
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
Cook grits according to package instructions. Stir in 1/4 cup shredded cheese right before serving.
for the shrimp:
- 8 oz raw shrimp
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 6 oz asparagus, cut into 1 1/2″ pieces
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- pinch thyme
- pinch salt & pepper
- 1 tsp minced hot pepper
- 4 scallions, minced
Lightly sauté carrot and celery in skillet. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Add wine and reduce by half. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add asparagus, thyme, salt, pepper, and minced pepper. Simmer until asparagus is almost done.
Stir in shrimp and cook until done – just a couple of minutes.
Stir in minced scallions and serve over grits.
Really simple and really tasty. That little bit of pepper definitely set the tone – each bite was successively hotter than the previous – but not enough to detract for the rest of the dish.
Not bad, at all…