READ: Oh, you mean you don’t crave shrimp n’ “grits” at 10 o’clock at night? Hmm? Just me?. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

Okay, so firstly no judging. I know it’s late to be eating (if you are on EST) but I am a victim of my television programming. I was minding my business watching Chopped on Food Network and my stomach started talking to me.

It said,”honey, you want shrimp and grits.”

I said, “you’re right.”

Then it said,”go get those shrimp you bought today and give those suckers a makeover.”

So my ingredients are not by any means traditional mainly because I’m a huge fan of using what you have.

At the grocer’s I bought a bag of tangerines today that looked orange and yummy and sweet and summery (is that a word? summery…summerie…summer-like).

However, they were so bitter. I mean acerbic times a thousand. So I peeled one and sauteed it in some Walkerwood jerk seasoning and sweet corn (it’s 10pm so I’m not making jerk from scratch, friends).

I let this cook on medium-high until the shrimp got the pink color and then on low until the gravy/sauce reduced.

Shrimp:

2 cups of medium-sized shrimp

2 strips of veggie bacon

1/2 cup of jerk seasoning marinade

2 tablespoons of EVOO

1 whole (bitter) tangerine

1/2 corn on cob

1 teaspoon of garlic (the diced in EVOO kind you can buy from the store)

( A note on salt…jerk marinades are packed with spices, salt, and overall savory goodness so I would NOT add salt until you taste it)

Cauliflower:

1 cup of cauliflower boiled and mashed.

1 tablespoon EVOO

1 teaspoon vegan cream cheese for creaminess

Salt to taste

You can reduce the cauliflower in a hot skillet to get some crunch on it and thicken it too.

One of my favourite Jerk marinade brands:

I ALWAYS have corn on the cob in my fridge or on my counter so I added some corn for brightness, crunch and sweetness because this Jerk is spicy (in a good way).

So a note about the “grits”….

I have already waxed poetic about trying to cut down on calories and buttery, creamy grits are not waistline friendly (even if it would be PERFECT with this) so I used some mashed cauliflower. If you tossed the cauliflower in the olde hot cast iron to get a little crunch and texture you can’t tell the difference.