Week #40: South Carolina - Old Charleston Shrimp & Grits Pizza

State:  South Carolina

I have been to South Carolina four times I think, but it was stopping through to a gas station on the way to Maryland or Florida.  What I do know about South Carolina is that they are well known for their shrimp and grits.  I love me some shrimp and grits, so I had to try it out.  For this pizza, I found an Old Charleston recipe, which incorporated bacon and sausage.  How could you go wrong with shrimp, bacon, and sausage?  This pizza was comfortably delicious and definitely worth trying!  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup coarsely ground grits

3 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

1 pizza crust

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

3 slices bacon

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup chopped green onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Grits:

Bring water to a boil and add grits.  Reduce the temperature to a simmer and allow 15-20 minutes for the grits to cook.  Once grits thickens, add butter, salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and allow grits to cool.

Shrimp Mixture:

In a bowl, sprinkle salt, pepper and cayenne pepper over shrimp.  Mix thoroughly.  In a medium pan, cook sausage slices over medium heat and cook until browned.  Take out sausage and set aside.  Add bacon and cook until evenly browned.  Transfer bacon to a plate with paper towels to absorb excess grease.  Retain 2 tablespoons of grease and discard the rest.  Add in the yellow bell peppers and garlic cooking until the onion is translucent.  Add in shrimp and sausage to pan. 

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, melt butter.  Once melted, add in flour to make a roux or a smooth paste.  Turn heat to low and stirring roux constantly, until the mixture is brown in color. Make sure not to burn the roux or you will have to start over.  Pour the butter-flour mixture into the skillet with sausage, shrimp, and vegetables.  Place the skillet over medium heat and pour in chicken broth, bacon and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook and stir sauce until it thickens and the shrimp are a bright orange or pink.

Pizza:

Preheat oven to 450.  Cook crust until slightly browned and remove from heat.  Next, lower oven temperature down to 400.  Add a layer of cheese to the base of the pizza.  Then, with a spooned ladle, scoop out mixture and apply to pizza crust.  Make sure to spread out toppings to ensure all slices will have equal parts.   Top off the pizza with green onion and place into oven for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow pizza to cool before eating.  

Pairing:

So for this pizza, I was trying to find a Thomas Creek, but the beer store was all out.  However, I did find a Bayshore IPA, which is a Tampa beer and it was brewed at the Thomas Creek brewery.  Technically, this beer was brewed in SC, so it all worked out.  An IPA is good for this pizza, since you need some type of acid or citrus taste to balance out the pizza.  You can also go with a Pinot Noir or a Chardonnay for this pizza.  Cheers!

Learning Moments:

For this pizza, I skipped the flour part as I did not have any gluten-free flour.  I think it would have made a big difference in the sauce, but either way this pizza was tasty.  Anytime you have sausage and shrimp, you can't go wrong.  This challenge is definitely taking me outside my comfort zone.  This pizza was really tasty!  I hope you enjoy!