Cheesy Polenta with Sausage and Shrimp

I love shrimp and grits. If it’s on a menu, I almost always get it to see the chef’s interpretation. One of my favorite shrimp and grit recipes incorporates chirozo sausage, mushrooms, and goat cheese in the grits to make it extra creamy. (recipe coming soon). My husband is Italian-American, so I cook a lot of Italian inspired dishes and grits are basically the same as polenta. So, I decided to change my favorite shrimp and grits recipe into an Italian inspired shrimp and polenta recipe.

Jump to Recipe

So what is the difference between grits and polenta? Or maybe I should start with what is the same. Both grits and polenta are made from ground cornmeal, which is basically dried corn. They are both cooked with water or stock to make a creamy porridge. The main difference is the type of corn. Polenta is typically made with a yellow medium ground cornmeal. I say “typically” because to be more precise, in Italy polenta is the method of preparation, not the type of corn. You could prepare polenta with chickpea flour or buckwheat meal. But here in America, polenta means yellow cornmeal while grits is a finer ground white cornmeal. So in a nutshell… yellow corn = polenta, white corn = grits.

This shrimp and polenta incorporates traditional Italian ingredients such as sundried tomatoes, ricotta cheese, and of course Italian sausage. But it is also extremely versatile because you can easily substitute ingredients to your liking. You could use calamari instead of shrimp, braised beef instead if sausage, fontina or asiago instead of ricotta. Share your version of this recipe in the comments below so I can see what yummy goodness you created.

Sausage Ragu

Ragu is an Italian term for a slow cooked meat sauce. Although it’s a “fancy” term, making a ragu is super simple. Sautee the onion and garlic, brown the sausage, add tomatoes, spices and simmer. When I’m making this recipe, I usually start with the ragu so it has plenty of time to simmer before making the polenta. If you’re short on time, make the ragu while the chicken stock for the polenta is heating up. If you have more time, start the ragu early in the afternoon and let it simmer for a couple hours. The longer it simmers, the tastier it gets. I use hot Italian sausage, and it’s not very spicy because the polenta calms down the heat. But you could use mild Italian sausage or ground beef too.

The Polenta

This polenta is so smooth and creamy. I use Bob’s Red Mill polenta and yellow grits. In a large pot heat 6 cups of chicken broth until boiling. When the water is boiling, add two cups of yellow cornmeal “polenta” and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. While the polenta is cooking, carmelize the onions and cook the shrimp. Check the heat often making sure not to burn the polenta. Once the liquid is completely absorbed and the cornmeal is a soft porridge consistency, remove from heat, add the ricotta and parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly.

Add the finishing touches

To caramelize the onions heat butter in a pan, add the onions and let cook on low heat. The longer you cook them the sweeter and crispier they will get. But if you’re short on time add a little sugar to speed up the process.

While the onions are caramelizing, clean the shrimp by removing the shells and tails. I know some people will tell you to keep the tails on, but I prefer to not remove tails while I’m eating, so I do it now. Put the cleaned shrimp on a towel to get out any excess moisture. Put the shrimp in a bowl and toss them with lemon juice, garlic powder and parsley. Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet and place shrimp in one layer in pan. Cook on one side until pink and then flip them to the other side. Set the cooked shrimp to the side.

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Plating

Add about two large scoops of polenta to a bowl and top with a scoop or two of the sausage ragu and 4 or 5 shrimp. Top it all off with some caramelized onions and MANGIA. That’s Italian for “Eat Up”. I can’t wait to see how this turned out for you. Share you pictures and comments below.