Grilled Trinity Shrimp with Johnny Cakes
What do you get when you cross pancakes with cornbread – Johnny cakes. Think of a pancake, but made with cornmeal, but cheesy, and savoury, that’s a Johnny cake. I love this brunch dish because it’s so different, you don’t see savoury pancakes or grilled shrimp for brunch every day! Johnny cakes don’t typically have melted cheese baked into them, but I thought this would be a great twist. Same with the serrano peppers, they aren’t typically added into Johnny cake batter, but the little punch of spice in every bite, mixed with the salty cheese is just *chef’s kiss*.
I decided to top off my Johnny cakes with grilled shrimp in trinity sauce. The ‘Trinity’ is diced celery, onions and red bell pepper and is sometimes referred to the ‘holy trinity’ in Cajun and Creole cooking, as it makes up the base for a lot of their signature dishes. I cooked the celery, onions (I used shallots, but they’re all from the same family) and red bell pepper in passata, which is just strained tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon juice, and let it reduce to be a thicker, chunkier sauce. The grilled shrimp gets mixed into the trinity sauce once they are cooked and goes on top of the stack of Johnny cakes. Of course, for good measure, I added a fried sunny side up egg on top of everything, so you can break that running yolk, grab a shrimp with trinity sauce and a forkful of Johnny cake – that’s a pretty epic bite if you ask me. And it’s so simple to put together.
Keep reading to find out how to make Grilled Trinity Shrimp with Johnny Cakes, all on the Alchemy Grill, or jump to the full recipe here.
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To make your Trinity sauce, finely chop your celery, shallots and red bell pepper. Add all three to the plancha and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes until softened.
Place your cast iron pan on the plancha and once your vegetables are softened, add them to your cast iron pan. Pour in the passata to your cast iron and squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Let the Trinity sauce cook down, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced. Set aside.
To make the batter for the Johnny cakes, in a bowl, add in the cornmeal, flour and baking soda. Slowly pour in the buttermilk while stirring, mixing the wet and dry ingredients together. Then pour in the melted butter while mixing, keep mixing until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth.
Next, add in two eggs and mix to combine. Add in 1 tbsp salt and mix. Dice your serrano peppers and mix into your batter. Set aside.
To make your grilled shrimp, add the shrimp to the plancha, squeeze lemon juice over top and mix. Grill your shrimp until fully cooked, flipping once midway. Once the shrimp is cooked through, add them into your trinity sauce and mix to coat with the sauce.
To make your Johnny cakes, add melted butter to the plancha. Ladle the Johnny cakes batter onto the buttered grill, making four pancakes. When the edges are starting to brown and bubbles appear in the batter, sprinkle your shredded cheese over the Johnny cakes and allow the cheese to slightly melt.
Flip the Johnny cakes to finish cooking through and to let the cheese melt. Crack an egg on the plancha to fry sunny side up. Once the Johnny cakes are cooked and your egg is fried, you're ready to build your dish.
To plate, finely chop fresh chives. Remove the Johnny cakes from the grill and stack one on top of each other on a plate or shallow bowl. The Johnny cake batter makes about eight pancakes, so you can do a stack of four, or a stack of two and feed 2-4 people. Make sure to fry a sunny egg to top each stack. Top the Johnny cakes with the Trinity sauce and shrimp, fried egg and chopped chives.
And now for the full recipe...
Grilled Trinity Shrimp with Johnny Cakes
Serves 2-4 people
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
12 medium/small shrimp, peeled and deveined 50 ml passata 3 stalks celery, finely chopped 2 shallots 1 red bell pepper
2-3 cloves garlic 1 ½ cups butter milk 1 cup grated cheddar 1 cup flour 1 cup cornmeal 1 tbsp baking powder ½ lb melted, room temp butter
1.5 tbsp salt 2 serrano peppers, finely chopped
4 eggs, divided (2 eggs for the batter, 1 egg to top each Johnny cake stack) 2 lemons
How to Make It:
Begin by preparing the ingredients for the Trinity sauce by finely dicing the celery, red pepper, shallot and garlic. Put the vegetables on the plancha and allow to cook until softened. Add them to your cast iron pan and pour in the passata, squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Let the Trinity sauce cook down, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced. Set aside.
For the Johnny cake batter, in a bowl, add in the cornmeal, flour and baking soda. Slowly pour in the buttermilk while stirring, mixing the wet and dry ingredients together. Then pour in the melted butter while mixing, keep mixing until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth. Add in two eggs and mix to combine. Add in 1 tbsp salt and mix. Dice the serrano peppers and mix into your batter. Set aside.
Add your shrimp to the plancha, squeeze lemon juice over top and mix. Grill your shrimp until fully cooked, flipping once midway. Once the shrimp is cooked, add them into your trinity sauce and mix to coat.
To make your Johnny cakes, add melted butter to the plancha. Ladle the Johnny cakes batter onto the buttered grill, making four pancakes. When the edges are starting to brown and bubbles appear in the batter, sprinkle your shredded cheese over the Johnny cakes and allow the cheese to slightly melt. Flip, allowing the Johnny cakes to finish cooking through and the cheese to melt. Crack an egg on the plancha to fry sunny side up.
To plate, finely chop fresh chives. Remove the Johnny cakes from the grill and stack one on top of each other on a plate or shallow bowl. Top with the Trinity sauce and shrimp, fried egg and chopped chives. The Johnny cake batter makes about eight pancakes, so you can do a stack of four, or a stack of two and feed 2-4 people. Make sure to fry a sunny egg to top each stack. Enjoy!
