smoky shrimp and parmesan polenta cakes

Before you start to have that feeling of deja vu, I want to acknowledge that I may have an affinity for grits/polenta products.  Yes, one of my more recent posts was from our shrimp and grits for Christmas.  I had hopes that this version would come closer to my goal.  It did have a nice flavor, but it was a bit muted...but, I think I know why.

First of all, the recipe called for spanish smoked paprika.  When I initially glanced through the recipe I just assumed that is what I had in the cupboard.  I was wrong.  I have a feeling that the smoky flavor of the spanish paprika may have just been the 'kick' that this dish needed, and I missed out on it.

However, I did figure out how to serve the polenta correctly...finally.  I cooked it earlier today and poured it into two small 4 ounce ramekin dishes (I sprayed them with cooking spray first).  After they cooled, they popped right out in perfect rounds.

Chef D is not the big grits fan that I am, so his shrimp was served on a bed of of organic italian fusilli (or, as our boys like to call them, drill bit noodles), smothered in the marinara, with a sprinkling of the fresh parmesan.

shrimp and grits for Christmas!

One day last week Chef D suggested Shrimp and Grits for our Christmas Day meal.  He had ran into a friend from church who shared that this menu was a Christmas family tradition and that got his taste buds yearning for Shrimp and Grits.  I tracked down the friend and got her recipe and then compared it with a few others I found on the internet.    Chef D and I finally decided to use a combination of them all and create our own.  We used this recipe as a base, but adjusted it slightly by adding leeks and green bell peppers.  I left out the cheddar cheese to allow everyone to choose whether or not they wanted plain grits or cheese grits with their shrimp sauce.  In the end, I felt it definitely needed the flavor of the cheese, as shrimp sauce was kind of bland.  It was not bad, but it just was not special.  We will probably try a different recipe again someday.

I chose a family favorite, fresh fruit with mint-balsamic tea, to accompany the shrimp course.  It has been several years since I prepared this fruit salad, but it will not be that long before I make it again.  It was just as delightful as I remember.

I also decided to try out a new, easy roll.  We had these new place and bake rolls from Pillsbury -- crescent rounds.  The whole family was pleasantly surprised with their taste and texture and we will probably have them again sometime.

A few weeks ago we purchased some yummy sticky toffee pudding to serve to our Tuesday night Bible Reading group.  Chef D decided to try to recreate it using this recipe and served it for dessert.  He topped it with a little whipped topping and we were good to go...DELICIOUS.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.