Best restaurant dish in a while .. with creamed grits!

[PoodlesAgain]

We do not eat out often, and I typically blow it picking wrong dishes, but not this time!
Casual seafood place with neat outdoor seating, got me a baked cod wrapped in prosciutto, topped with tomato sauce.
The thing is, it was served over creamed grits, and made a great pairing with the fish!

Creamed grits?
Is that a common, thing, that is, the creamed part?

BTW this outing was a good distraction after learning the news of the COVID passing of one of spouse's classmate this week.

[slowhand84]

We do not eat out often, and I typically blow it picking wrong dishes, but not this time!
Casual seafood place with neat outdoor seating, got me a baked cod wrapped in prosciutto, topped with tomato sauce.
The thing is, it was served over creamed grits, and made a great pairing with the fish!

Creamed grits?
Is that a common, thing, that is, the creamed part?

BTW this outing was a good distraction after learning the news of the COVID passing of one of spouse's classmate this week.

All those delicious descriptors and no photo? For shame

There's a spot I always go to that does a spicy garlic shrimp dish topped with sautéed kale and served over polenta...that thing is so good it sneaks into my dreams!

[Partscaster]

Baked Scrod and ready for sleep.

[mickey]

Speaking as a southerner born & bred, I've never heard of "creamed grits" nor "shrimp & polenta*."
But you'll find cheesegrits as a veggie on the menu of most (non-fastfood) restaurants around here.
Shrimp and grits is a very common (and very popular) entree around here.
Dunno why baked cod & grits wouldn't work?






* Of course polenta is an Italian word meaning "expensive grits frequently screwed up with olive oil."

[PoodlesAgain]

I gotta look around for a creamed grits recipe then.
Maybe it is a derivative of "cheese grits"?
Heading to the CL food forum, plenty of knowledgeable folks there.

And, no, I do not take pictures of my food, I just eat it!

[ID10t]

You can make grits creamy or thicker, it's ratios and technique.
I think you got "Food Networked."
It the difference between "Chipped beef with a creamy sauce presented on artician toast at the local dining facility." and "going to the chow hall for Shit on a Shingle."
The chefs don't prepare food any better, they just use better words.

But, I'm glad you found it and enjoyed it.

[OMB]

Speaking as a southerner born & bred, I've never heard of "creamed grits" nor "shrimp & polenta*."
But you'll find cheesegrits as a veggie on the menu of most (non-fastfood) restaurants around here.
Shrimp and grits is a very common (and very popular) entree around here.
Dunno why baked cod & grits wouldn't work?

* Of course polenta is an Italian word meaning "expensive grits frequently screwed up with olive oil."

I guess you can place an adverb or adjective of one's choosing in front of grits but having lived the bulk of my life in the South and a very active consumer of grits call it anything you want. Grits are good. Polenta is good too. I am going to make some tomatoe baked cod tonight and well now I will serve it up with some grits than k you very much.

[OMB]

OH and you can cook grits in milk or half and half as a substitute for water or chicken stock. Maybe that would be the "Creamed Grits"...

[PoodlesAgain]

No I did not get Food Networked it is just the place not cooking the same stuff all the time.
So, it you cook grits with something else than water you gotta have to call it something...
BTW it looked closer to finely mashed potatoes than trad grits.

[ID10t]

No I did not get Food Networked it is just the place not cooking the same stuff all the time.
So, it you cook grits with something else than water you gotta have to call it something...
BTW it looked closer to finely mashed potatoes than trad grits.

I didn't mean to offend, I'll reiterate ratio and technique. If it wasn't such a pain for me to upload pictures I would include a half empty 5 gallon bucket of corn meal in our pantry and our two #10 cans of corn meal in "food storage." I eat grits and polenta. Minus olive oil in cooking and poured into a 1 L bottle and refrigerated overnight then removed and cut into 1 inch rounds and pan fried or sprayed with olive oil and air fried.
You can and I have put corn meal into my 'dry container' Vitamix to get a finer grind, it's a technique.

[mickey]

No I did not get Food Networked it is just the place not cooking the same stuff all the time.
So, it you cook grits with something else than water you gotta have to call it something...
BTW it looked closer to finely mashed potatoes than trad grits.

I didn't mean to offend, I'll reiterate ratio and technique. If it wasn't such a pain for me to upload pictures I would include a half empty 5 gallon bucket of corn meal in our pantry and our two #10 cans of corn meal in "food storage." I eat grits and polenta. Minus olive oil in cooking and poured into a 1 L bottle and refrigerated overnight then removed and cut into 1 inch rounds and pan fried or sprayed with olive oil and air fried.
You can and I have put corn meal into my 'dry container' Vitamix to get a finer grind, it's a technique.

No offense but you can't make grits from corn meal. By definition, grits are made by grinding "de-braned" corn while corn meal is corn ground bran & all.
That is why they are nominally referred to as "hominy grits" because hominy is corn with the bran removed.

[ID10t]

No I did not get Food Networked it is just the place not cooking the same stuff all the time.
So, it you cook grits with something else than water you gotta have to call it something...
BTW it looked closer to finely mashed potatoes than trad grits.

I didn't mean to offend, I'll reiterate ratio and technique. If it wasn't such a pain for me to upload pictures I would include a half empty 5 gallon bucket of corn meal in our pantry and our two #10 cans of corn meal in "food storage." I eat grits and polenta. Minus olive oil in cooking and poured into a 1 L bottle and refrigerated overnight then removed and cut into 1 inch rounds and pan fried or sprayed with olive oil and air fried.
You can and I have put corn meal into my 'dry container' Vitamix to get a finer grind, it's a technique.

No offense but you can't make grits from corn meal. By definition, grits are made by grinding "de-braned" corn while corn meal is corn ground bran & all.
That is why they are nominally referred to as "hominy grits" because hominy is corn with the bran removed.

No offense taken, I was Northern born and just making my way in the world. You can most certainly make grits from cornmeal but it's probably an over modernisation of things; like a flour tortilla, though everyone knows tortillas are made from corn, or masa. Heck some ancestors probably would argue that grits are a over modernisation of mush from Maize, and where is the Juniper ash?

I lived in Georgia a bit and I'm not arguing your point, I've had the real stuff made by a Southern Grandma. I just think I mighta pushed a button with my contempt for cooking channels.

[mickey]

I didn't mean to offend, I'll reiterate ratio and technique. If it wasn't such a pain for me to upload pictures I would include a half empty 5 gallon bucket of corn meal in our pantry and our two #10 cans of corn meal in "food storage." I eat grits and polenta. Minus olive oil in cooking and poured into a 1 L bottle and refrigerated overnight then removed and cut into 1 inch rounds and pan fried or sprayed with olive oil and air fried.
You can and I have put corn meal into my 'dry container' Vitamix to get a finer grind, it's a technique.

No offense but you can't make grits from corn meal. By definition, grits are made by grinding "de-braned" corn while corn meal is corn ground bran & all.
That is why they are nominally referred to as "hominy grits" because hominy is corn with the bran removed.

No offense taken, I was Northern born and just making my way in the world. You can most certainly make grits from cornmeal but it's probably an over modernisation of things; like a flour tortilla, though everyone knows tortillas are made from corn, or masa. Heck some ancestors probably would argue that grits are a over modernisation of mush from Maize, and where is the Juniper ash?

I lived in Georgia a bit and I'm not arguing your point, I've had the real stuff made by a Southern Grandma. I just think I mighta pushed a button with my contempt for cooking channels.

Not here you didn't, I can't get cooking channels with my TV antenna.
Back when I was a little kid I helped my granny do things like make hominy (by soaking corn in wood ashes from the fire & water).
Her husband (my grandpa) was a blacksmith & I've watched him make horseshoes, "tire" wagon wheels & such.
Granny died in the mid 1980's at age 98.
Our ancestors learned to make hominy (and grits) from the Cherokee Indians who lived in the North Georgia, Southeast Tennessee & Western North Carolina
area when my ancestors got kicked out of Scotland by "The Highland Clearances." I'm 1/8 Cherokee on my mother's side and 1/8 Cherokee on my father's side.
I guess our ancestors taught the Cherokees how to make fire water?

[andrewsrea]

I love grits and polenta! Lots of butter and cheddar doesn't hurt. Throw in some andouille sausage and some greens on the side!

[OMB]

Some Hillshire Sausage is pretty good with grits too!

[tonebender]

A place we frequent serves baked andouille sausage crusted catfish over smoked gouda cheese grits and it is to die for. Another of our favorite spots serves grilled cod smothered in a wine sauce full of mushrooms, spinach,sun dried tomato bits, bay scallops, shrimp and red onions. I think it is the best seafood dish I have ever eaten. I duplicate it at home.

[PoodlesAgain]

Allright, spouse got grits and she is going for the creamy grits!

Recipe from the cookbook written by chef at Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham, Alabama.

She is grating Parmigiano Reggiano, so it may be Food Network-y stuff after all...!

BTW, a restaurant owner near us (formerly) uses Asiago instead of Parmigiano, with much success, like, no need to buy premium, when good substitute does fine.