Pan Seared Shrimp with Romesco Sauce over Creamy Grits and Greens

Have you been watching the Food Network program - Worst Cooks in America?

I'm not sure why I even started watching this show. I consider myself a decent cook, so it's not like I thought I would learn anything. Maybe it's like watching the American Idol Auditions, you just want to be sure there is someone out there that is worse than you?

I kept watching even after the auditions, and was amazed at the kinds of recipes they were teaching these self proclaimed terrible cooks. I was shocked at the techniques and ingredients that I was not familiar with.



A few weeks ago they featured this recipe.

It included:

Shelled and Deveined Shrimp (I've always purchased mine already deveined and had no idea how to do it myself).

Creamy Grits (seen them made - never eaten them or cooked them at home)

Mustard Greens (unless you count spinach - I've never cooked any kind of greens)

Romesco Sauce (I'm a total sauce girl, and even I didn't know what this was)

Grapeseed Oil (again, seen it, heard of it, but never used it)

In case you lost count - that 5 ingredients that I have never used before. How can that be? I'm a good cook! I watch all kinds of cooking shows and try all sorts of new recipes.



There was no way I was going to have the Worst Cooks in America be better skilled than me.

The Challenge was ON - I was going to make this recipe!
The first hurdle was deveining the shrimp.



It's supposed to run along the back of the shrimp.



Just cut along the vein with a sharp knife and it can be pulled right out.

Sometimes the vein is hidden.



This one was along the belly of the shrimp. But it works just the same - cut with a knife along the vein and pull it out.



OK - that was easy enough. All the shrimp peeled and deveined.

Now on the the Sauce. I think I've actually had this sauce (and even tried to replicate it at home). One of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant back home in Pennsylvania serves delicious crab cakes with a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. It think it might be the same as the Romesco Sauce (just without the fancy name).



It's easy peasy to make. Just throw everything into a food processor and blend away. It reminds me of a pesto because it has nuts, herbs, garlic and oil, but What's interesting about this sauce is that it's thickened with crusty bread (crumbs) rather than Parmesan or Romano cheese.



Now that the sauce is made, on to the Grits. My only comment would be to follow the liquid/grits ratio on your particular brand of grits. When I used the proportions in the recipe, the grits were way to thick and I had to almost double the liquid (and therefore ended up with way more grits than I needed but had them for breakfast the next day - Yum).

They stayed nice and warm parked on the back of my cooktop.



The greens were much easier than I expected. For some reason I thought they had to cook for hours on end with a ham bone or some kind of fatty seasoning to take out the bitterness. Not the case - they were basically just wilted in a saucepan just like I've done spinach. The dash of red pepper flakes was a nice addition.



Now that the shrimp were all cleaned and ready to go, they only had to be seared for a few minutes and then the pan deglazed.



The finished dish was beautiful and delicious, and I feel better having mastered several new techniques and ingredients.

The final episode of Worst Cooks in America is on this Sunday night - I'll have to watch to see I can make the final meal, or if there is still more I need to learn.

I guess it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.