Grilled Prawns and Gouda Grits with a Tomato Cajun Sauce

Quite frequently when we go out to eat my husband will ask me if I can recreate a dish. My palate is sophisticated enough, that generally, recreating that dish is within my scope of culinary skills. Well, we were out at a local seafood restaurant, and my mother in law had a delicious dish. (And yes, I recreated it for them when they came to visit as well... by request. What can I say, I'm accommodating from time to time.) As fancy as it sounds, it is quite easy to cook. The grits are seriously just grits and cheese, and the Cajun sauce is deceptively simple. Delicious tomatoes and nutrient dense spinach almost excuse the cheesy grits. But if your conscience is tugging at you a bit, your mouth and tummy will shut it up for you. :)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients/Instructions:

For the Cajun Tomato Sauce:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

3 oz tomato paste

1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1/4 cup Cajun seasoning (click the hyperlink to the left for the recipe)

1. Make a roux with the butter and the flour. Do this by melting the butter and stirring in the flour. It will form a paste. Add your broth and stir. It will begin to thicken up.

2. Add the tomato paste, the canned tomato and the 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning, stir, cover and set aside.

For the Gouda Grits:

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup grits

10 oz smoked Gouda

1. Bring your chicken broth to a low boil and slowly stir in the grits. Continue stirring for a few minutes as the mixture begins to thicken.

2. Grate and sprinkle in the Gouda, stirring as you add. Cover and set aside.

For the Spinach:

11 oz package of spinach

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

6-8 garlic cloves, minced

1. In a large sauté pan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 6-8 minced garlic cloves.

2. Cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes, then add the spinach.

3. Add the salt and pepper and continue to stir until all the spinach is wilted. This will be roughly 3-5 more minutes.

For the Grilled Prawns:

24-32 oz of prawns

olive oil, for drizzling

salt, pepper, garlic powder, to taste

1. Place the prawns on a skewer and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste, just a light dusting over each side. (You will get additional flavors with the sauce and grits.)

2. Heat the grill to a medium high heat and grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until done.

Putting it all together:

1. Spoon 1/2- 3/4 cups of the Gouda grits into a bowl.

2. Add the Cajun Tomato Sauce. This amount depends entirely upon you. (Do you like a heavy sauce? Just a light drizzling?)

3. Add the spinach. (Keep in mind how many people you are trying to serve as you place your spinach in the first bowl.)

4. Add 4-6 prawns to each bowl.

Serve and Enjoy!!!!