Pimento cheese shrimp and grits.
Hey, I'm Justin Sutherland,
executive chef and owner of the Handsome Hog
in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
You also might recognize me from "Iron Chef",
"Top Chef" and my new show "Fast Foodies".
Today, we're gonna make one of the favorites
from Handsome Hog, our pimento cheese shrimp and grits.
The first step
for our shrimp and grits are getting our grits done.
I like to start with a nice white course ground grits
and just add just enough water to cover.
If it seems as though the grits have absorbed all
that water, then we're gonna start getting in
with our creaminess of whole milk.
Stir the grits until the liquid is completely incorporated
and then we're just gonna bring it down
to a nice slow simmer
until all that liquid is absorbed.
We're gonna come over
and start making the base for our shrimp.
Just a little bit of vegetable oil.
Once our pan is hot, we're gonna add our Holy Trinity.
Green peppers, celery and onion,
that's usually the basis of any good Southern dish.
A little bit of chopped garlic.
I wanna throw in about two tablespoons of butter
and then once that butter is melted down,
we're gonna hit it with equal parts flour
and that's gonna build our roux.
Now, once that flour and butter is fully incorporated,
I'm gonna add just a little bit of crushed tomato,
that's gonna give it some nice acidity
and for our liquid, we're gonna add some shellfish stock.
And we're gonna start adding our shrimp in
and let 'em just lightly poach right in this liquid.
We're gonna come check on our grits over here.
As you can see, they're nice and creamy.
Still al dente, not too thick.
This is gonna be a perfect time
to start adding all those ingredients
to make these nice pimento cheese grits.
So we've got some Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese,
some cream cheese, a little bit of sour cream
and some diced pimento peppers.
We're gonna go ahead and mount these grits
with another couple of tablespoons of butter.
For I'ma turn the heat down and just let
that carry over temperatures slowly melt the cheese
and the butter
and bring this all together.
Slide over here and check on our shrimp
and then we're gonna season this
with just a little bit of Old Bay and some Cajun seasoning.
We're gonna hit our shrimp base
with just a little bit of fresh lemon.
I always like things a little more spicy
so we're gonna add couple dashes of hot sauce,
salt and pepper.
(upbeat music)
Right, go ahead and top that just
with a little bit of scallion
and there you have it guys.
That's some heart and a soul on a plate.
Restaurants have been a vehicle
that have allowed me to, you know,
to pursue a lot of my other passions.
You know, when it comes to social justice,
when it comes to inequalities
and really just helping out my community.
The North Stands was a nonprofit
that started with my good friend, Chef David Fhima,
along with The Sanneh Foundation.
We've raised over $300,000
that has been checks that have been stipends,
that have been sent out to unemployed hospitality workers
and some of it going into a fund
that's actually gonna help rebuild businesses.
One of the most important initiatives
for me is underserved youth,
especially in the inner city.
So I sit on the board of the Inner City Ducks
and what we do is provide afterschool sports and activities.
But we also provide mentorship,
we provide free meals, free transportation.
Everything that's going to help level the playing field
to actually give these kids a fighting chance.
In Diversity We Trust is kind of the tagline
for my brother, Jeremy and myself clothing line,
which just really encompassed everything that we believe in.
You know, diversity is so important
in everything we do
and it's not even a choice.
You don't choose to have diversity, you know?
You look around you and you are surrounded by things
that are different than you
and that's what makes our world so great.
So we just wanted people to be able to wear something
that showed everybody else what they stood for.