• 2 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup stone-ground grits
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (or Half-n-Half)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 link spicy Italian sausage, crumbled and extracted from the casing
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup shitake mushrooms, chopped
• 3/4 pound shrimp
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chives, chopped, to taste

Start the grits: Heat the water and milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until just simmering. Stir in grits and simmer, stirring often, until grits are tender to the bite and are thickened to the consistency of thick oatmeal. Regular grits are done in about 20 minutes, but stone-ground require an hour or so to cook, and you’ll have to add additional milk and water as needed.

In a nonstick skillet, break up the sausage and sauté with onion, bell pepper and garlic 4-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and shrimp and cook till shrimp are opaque in center, about 6 more minutes. Season with cayenne and salt and pepper.

When grits are fully cooked, stir salt, cream and butter into the pot. Serve by spooning the shrimp-sausage mixture on top of the grits. Garnish with chives.

Optional: send the kids off to a friend’s house and put Madeleine Peyroux’s “Careless Love” on the CD player. Add a salad and a glass of white wine.

There now. You’ve just had an Alexander’s-style dinner, and you didn’t even have to dress up.