Recently, while Adam (the Amateur Gourmet) was on vacation, he turned over his blog to others to fill in for him. The first sub in wrote of his love of grits. I am a late comer to the grit. But with a best friend who grew up in the south, I have come to love the well-prepared grit.
He adapted the recipe below from Charleston's own Lee Brothers from their Southern Cookbook. Note: Most every Southern chef will tell you to use Anson Mills grits, but alas I don't drive so I had to use whatever I could find at the local grocery store. Enjoy.
SIMPLE CHEESE GRITS - makes about 4 decent sized servings
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup stone-ground grits
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cup (packed) grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup (packed) grated Monterey Jack cheese
Pour milk and water into a small saucepan, cover, and heat on medium high until milk mixture boils (about 5 minutes). Uncover pot, add grits and salt and reduce heat to medium. Stir constantly until grits are the consistency of thick soup - about 8 minutes. Reduce to simmer, stirring every 2 minutes for about 20 minutes until grits thicken. Cook for 15 minutes more - stirring constantly - to prevent grits from sticking to bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 cups of the cheddar cheese, 3/4 cups of the Monterey Jack cheese, and the butter. Pour into the skillet and top with remaining cheese.
Turn oven to broil. Place skillet directly under broiler for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted and starts to brown. Remove from oven and serve immediately.
5 comments:
Polly Holliday as Flo!
Count me as one Southerner who never could get into grits.
This recently reentered the lexicon of my preferred retorts, but I still can't quite replicate the way ol' Flo practically turned grits into a two syllable word. I hate grits, but it has nothing to do with Southern cooking which I adore, and everything to do with the fact that I also hate Cream of Wheat and oatmeal, which were forced on me as a young child, and from which I rebelled at the tender age of eight. Its the texture thing, I keep trying, but it just doesn't change.
AT - Nice to see you back among the land of the living. Just in time for you to retreat in horror as the snow begins to fly Down East?
PG - Grits are certainly an acquired taste. I love the scene from "My Cousin Vinny" about grits. It's perfect.
Despite moving to the South, "grits" have not become a part of my diet. I've given them a try (along with biscuits & gravy,) & I still prefer a more "Northern" breakfast; bacon, eggs, toast. *L*
Lana - me too. And your health is probably better for it (avoiding the Southern diet, that is).
Post a Comment