Savory Portuguese Shrimp ‘n’ Grits with Chef George Mendes and The Brothers Green

Hey guys, we are The Brothers Green and we're

hanging out with George Mendes from Aldea.

Chef George says he's got the answer to shrimp and grits.

We're gonna make a shrimp porridge we're just taking

the grits concept another level higher.

I always like one level higher.

Slip it up.

That's where you wanna be.

Let's do it.

The equivalent history on this dish

it's basically taking day old bread and adding

whatever leftovers.

It's really a dish about leftovers.

Three star chef right now and we're getting day old bread.

That's all you got for us.

But here's the point, it's the fact of taking

something that you're gonna throw away

and making a savory appetizer to impress your friends with.

It's a very rustic dish so it's not about precise cutting

and stuff like that.

We're gonna peel the clove of garlic here.

Smash it.

Yup, smash it.

We got a hot pot, add some olive oil in there.

No such thing as too much olive oil.

Garlic goes in there.

Slow that down a little bit, we're gonna take

a little bit of onion now.

Right now what we've got going on is called a refugado.

Which basically a sofrito in Spanish, so it's a base.

Onions and garlic, olive oil.

This is a base for almost--

95% of the recipes that we do. Okay.

So we're just letting it saute over low heat here.

Got any bay leaf back there?

We got some bay leaf.

Now you gotta tear it.

Tear it.

Release some of the essence.

Yeah, exactly.

Pop that right in.

Yup, perfect.

[Josh] Is that something you'll take it after?

You don't wanna eat the bay leaf.

You're gonna chew on it, unless you're a goat.

Let's get some chilis, some chili plates in here.

Let's put this dried chili in there, we're gonna use

two of the plates there. What kind of chili is that?

This looks like a Mexican chili actually.

[Mike] Here's this paprika.

[Josh] You think that's enough?

Yeah, add a pinch in there.

And then let's add some tomato paste.

[Mike] Just a little bit at a time.

Yeah, half of that spoon.

Now you really wanna mix it up.

Good.

You're well on your way.

[Josh] So once you have the basic, you sorta just

do whatever you want.

[George] Exactly.

It's very got a little bit of this, got a little bit...

[Mike] I mean, you can't go wrong with that right there,

like you said...

You got a really strong foundation here.

Now we're gonna add our bread, so

mix that up.

Then I might have brought some shrimp stock in my pocket.

So it's basically a shrimp stock.

There's water, there's (mumbles) shrimp heads,

there's some sliced onion and fennel.

Are you gonna do like a risotto or rice?

Like a little bit at a time?

No, actually, we're gonna add the broth here.

Oh my goodness.

So it's going up the sides.

The bread is gonna act like rice, it's just gonna

absorb it all.

It's too quiet in here, can we get some music?

I know.

I do have a little ukelele, do you play?

I don't, I love the sound of that though.

(ukelele music)

Takes me, transports me back to the south of Portugal,

in the Riviera.

(Mike humming)

I need just a, I need a cold drink.

♫ And you'll just crash

You wanna stir that porridge

a little bit.

♫ Just stir that porridge Mike

There you are.

♫ I'm stirring the porridge Josh

I think you're doing awful. (Mike laughs)

(slow ukele music) It's more elegant.

So as it thickens, what we're gonna do

is use one of the most basic ingredients of all.

[Mike] So what's this ingredient?

[George] Water.

Where'd you bring that from?

Just the sink over there.

[Mike] So all this bread's It's pretty absorbed.

Yeah, exactly.

We'll go ahead and season the shrimp.

We've got some smoky, pepper elements in the rice.

So as you can see, it's simmering really slowly.

The shrimp are just poaching away in there.

That's a big thing, people are always

overcooking shrimp, aren't they?

They cook the shit out of it, yeah.

It basically has its tell you when it's done

color change.

[Mike] Like a Coors Light can.

[Josh] And do you serve this at the restaurant,

or is this more just like...

We do, we serve this at Lupulo,

I mean we do another refined version at Aldea

with the new menu that's coming out.

We'll go ahead and take the bay leaf out.

Get a lemon.

Okay.

We're gonna add some acidity and fruitiness

and freshness to this.

That's good.

Good, good, good, plenty.

It's a shrimp porridge, not a lemon porridge, huh.

And you can go ahead and zest some of the skin on there too.

[Josh] Zesty.

[George] So you see how fast the little

shrimpy shrimps are cooking.

Now we're going in with some garnish.

Now you're gonna go with some parsley.

Parsley is to Portuguese cuisine what basil is to Italian.

That's it, ready to go.

You see how all the shrimp stock just reduced down.

It's nice and thick.

[Mike] But there's still a little bit of soupiness.

[George] Yeah, exactly a little bit of soupiness to it.

First you gotta smell.

Oh, glorious.

It's like (ukelele music)

creamy and chewy, and there's also some crisp going on.

Which is really cool.

I think what I appreciated about it is just being

able to sit down after a long day, make something

really quick and just sort of enjoy this.

[Mike] This was so delicious, I inhaled that.

(soft guitar music)