Jumbo shrimp and very gouda grits

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   >> good to the last drop.

   >>> and this morning in "today's kitchen back to basics," we're taking a trip down south. chef jeff tracy is the owner of five restaurants in the washington, d.c., area, and he's here to show us how to cook up jumbo shrimp and very gouda grits . jeff , nice to have you back.

   >> it's great to be here.

   >> you were a theology major at georgetown. how do you end up owning five restaurants coming from that background?

   >> well, guy.com wasn't hiring in 1995 and i just got a job in a restaurant and it became a career.

   >> and you're doing really well with it. you're going to make a shrimp dish and add the grits here. everybody says grits is such a great side dish . why is it so concentrated in the south then?

   >> no idea. the people up in new england really should be learning how to make this more. i was born in boston, and you know, a good mashed potato up there takes like an hour and a half. this takes 10 minutes , 15 minutes , real ease.

   >> let's start with the shrimp sausage. what are we going to to?

   >> first, get a pan with canola oil. onions, peppers. i really hate green onions because they lose all their color when they're cooking, but pablanos keep their color. so they're pretty all the way through.

   >> what kind of sausage are you adding there?

   >> this is true new orleans-style sausage, andouille. we're going to keep it real simple .

   >> you have garlic here, adding a touch of salt as well.

   >> yep.

   >> and then you're going to add the shrimp. and cooking time on shrimp, can that be a little tricky or does it depend on the size of the shrimp?

   >> shrimp are a little like the turkeys with the pop-up thermometers. they kind of tell you when they're ready.

   >> how?

   >> they start to turn color and curl.

   >> the tighter they curl, the more cooked they are. you don't want them done too well.

   >> no, they get rubbery.

   >> these are jumbo shrimp --

   >> jumbo.

   >> and you peel them.

   >> absolutely.

   >> how long is this now?

   >> this is going to take four or five minutes.

   >> while you're doing that and cooking that, let's move on to the next step.

   >> absolutely. the next step will be finishing up the grits . and what i've done is i've used milk and water combined. i let it come to a boil. you put the grits in there. when the grits come back to a boil again, they expand and turn into the finished product that you see here.

   >> are these the slower cooking grits ? because there are kind of instant grits as well.

   >> right. it all depends on how impatient you are. if you need to have it done in two or three minutes, instant grits . if you need to have it done in ten minutes, good old grits .

   >> what's the consistency you're looking for the finished product here?

   >> i like it pretty creamy. you can have all sorts of thicknesses.

   >> i've had it down south where it's runny and i've had it a tighter consistency.

   >> i think it depends in the preparation. we need firmness just to hold the shrimp, but it is pretty creamy as well.

   >> most people think grits and they think cheddar cheese , and you've gone to gouda. why?

   >> one, you get to say "they're very gouda."

   >> that's the only reason?

   >> the other thing is they're very, very creamy. the cheese is very silky and comes outs really nice. i just like the flavor more.

   >> okay.

   >> i think cheddar can be kind of tough sometimes.

   >> what's your ratio of grits to cheese here?

   >> well, it's some grits to a lot of cheese. the important ratio here is the four to one ratio, four parts liquid, one part grits .

   >> okay, fine. so, you're going to cook those up.

   >> cook these up, almost done.

   >> and still got these over here.

   >> working these along.

   >> go ahead.

   >> i got it.

   >> you immediately grabbed the tongs from my hand.

   >> well, you've got to let the man do -- i didn't grab the microphone from you. so, then what we're going to do is we're going to put some tomatoes in here as well. we're going to let those cook down. and when the shrimp finally get -- you see they're coming up sort of nice and pink here and they're starting to get there.

   >> okay. we haven't mentioned this, that you're married to our very own norah o'donnell.

   >> i did very well. in fact, in 1991 , i ran into norah at georgetown university , freshman year, fell in love , got married ten years later.

   >> you've got three young kids. we're going to turn that down, let that pretend it's cooked. show me what it looks like at the end.

   >> very good.

   >> so, here's how it looks like when it's cooked down a bit. bring the grits over. how do you plate this?

   >> so, what we've got here, a little bit of grits in the center of the bowl.

   >> mm-hmm. oh, boy, they've got a lot of cheese in them. you can see they're kind of stringy but nice. okay. we've got about 20 seconds left, jeff . oh, hi!

   >> hi, dear!

   >> what a shock, norah o'donnell. how are you? i'll let you two stand together. oh, that is so nice.

   >> my job here's done.

   >> plate that up.

   >> how's norah in the kitchen, by the way?

   >> she doesn't cook, she doesn't clean. it's a good deal, huh?

   >> chef jeff with jumbo shrimp and very gouda grits .

   >> thank you very much.

   >> appreciate it.

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