Family Dinner with JP

Source: That Dog on the Internet Ever since launching the Twitch stream cooking show , my buddy Shampoodler AKA Shamp has been a stalwart follower and honest critic of the stream and, more importantly, the recipes. A few weeks back, Shamp suggested a recipe he likes to make at home, with a focus on doing something simple for the stream, but kicking it up just a few notches.  I have included the original recipe from Shamp below, in case you want to try his more ad lib approach. And to be honest, I know Shamp knows enough about cooking that he can wing a recipe like this pretty easily without even thinking. For me, I wanted measurements I can tweak and improve moving forward, and wanted to present something for viewers and followers of the blog to try at home. So I tweaked his recipe just a bit to incorporate some actual measurements and a roux. But on the whole, this is VERY similar to the Shamp original. I'm also including quick instructions for the simplest and BEST garlic bread. ...

I did not grow up eating grits. The only time I tried them in my "youth" was during college, headed to the Warped Tour at Hampton Colosseum with my friends Jed and Ty and Graham and Dan, Jed insisting we head to Waffle House for breakfast before the show. When in Virginia ...? I remember the menu included variations of grits to include, but certainly not limited to, Covered, Smothered, Buttered, Sputtered, Stuttered, possibly Mothered. I may be making some of those up. Point is, I was incredibly underwhelmed and a little bit grossed out. It wasn't until years later, watching Michael Chiarello's "You'll Never Live in Napa and Never Be Unawaredly Rich Like Me" cooking show, when I first heard of polenta. He made it look good, elevated, exquisitely delicate and complex. And then he said the words: polenta is basically just Italian grits. So, I decided to give polenta a try, and I liked it. And then I discovered actually complex, not-covered-in-chee...