GEORGIA COAST SHRIMP AND STONE GROUND GRITS PIE

Rhoades suggests any mixture of cheese you like, but her experiments with straight Cheddar left something to be desired. “My final winning pie had a mixture of Cheddar, mozzarella and Gouda.”

The crust recipe is one she inherited from her grandmother. When she makes it, she uses 4 cups self-rising flour and 1 1/3 cups vegetable shortening, then enough ice water to make a dough. She finds that’s enough for five crusts. She uses what she needs immediately, rolling very thinly, and then freezes the rest of later pies. We’ve adapted the recipe by cutting her crust recipe to one quarter of the original size. If you have extra scraps, you can roll them out and sprinkle with cheese and then bake as a cook’s treat.

One thing to remember with the crust is that the self-rising flour may make it a little saltier than you may be accustomed to. Taste the crust and then adjust the seasoning for your grits mixture accordingly. Rhoades likes to prebake her crust for this pie so there’s no chance the final pie will have a soggy bottom crust.

1 cup self-rising flour

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, room temperature

Cold water, as needed

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup stone ground grits

1 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

Salt, to taste

Hot sauce, to taste

2 cups shredded cheese

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 pound shrimp, peeled

4 green onions, green part only, sliced

Basil and parsley, chopped, to taste, if desired

2 eggs

In a medium bowl, combine self-rising flour and shortening. Mix with fingers until shortening is thoroughly mixed into flour. Add just enough cold water to form a dough. Form a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Prepare grits: in a medium saucepan, combine chicken broth, grits and half-and-half. Whisk to prevent any lumps and cook over medium heat, whisking frequently, until grits are tender. Stir in garlic powder, pepper and salt and hot sauce to taste. Fold in cheese and set aside to cool.

When ready to bake pie, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove crust from refrigerator and roll out. Fit into 10-inch pie plate and line with parchment paper. Use pie weights or dried beans to weigh down the paper and bake 15 minutes. Remove crust from oven, remove weights and parchment paper and return crust to oven for additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

When crust is removed, lower oven heat to 325 degrees.

While crust is baking, make filling: In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Add shrimp and cook until almost done, about 3 minutes. Remove most of the shrimp, leaving a few behind to continue cooking through, 1 to 2 more minutes, for garnish. Set fully cooked shrimp aside. Chop remaining shrimp into small pieces and fold into cooled grits. Add scallions and basil and parsley, if desired. Lightly beat eggs and then thoroughly mix them into the grits and shrimp. Pour filling into baked pie shell and return to oven for 1 hour or until lightly browned and firm at the center. Remove from oven, garnish with reserved cooked shrimp and serve.

Serves: 8

Per serving: 461 calories (percent of calories from fat, 50), 27 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 26 grams fat (13 grams saturated), 184 milligrams cholesterol, 899 milligrams sodium.

BY JENNIFER CARTER CONTRIBUTED Shrimp and Grits Pie by Christina M. Rhoades of Acworth.