Monday, September 14, 2009

"Kiss My Grits!"

To start with, bonus points for identifying the person who always said that quote above.

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
Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a cast iron skillet (or small baking dish).

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:

Archivalist said...

Polly Holliday as Flo!

Count me as one Southerner who never could get into grits.

Philly Girl said...

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.

Brave Astronaut said...

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.

Lana Gramlich said...

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*

Brave Astronaut said...

Lana - me too. And your health is probably better for it (avoiding the Southern diet, that is).