Grits/Polenta
Last edited Thu Feb 5, 2015, 01:29 PM - Edit history (1)
If all you've ever had are the runny grits at the Waffle House, or maybe you've never had them at all, you owe it to yourself to give these a try. What you want to look for at the supermarket is Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits/Polenta. If you can't find this, just look for polenta. If you can't find either, Amazon has it. Some people like hominy grits, but I'm not one of them. Both yellow corn grits and hominy grits are traditional in the south. Polenta and yellow corn grits use the same basic type of corn meal. Only the preparation methods differ. In fact, if your family has an aversion to grits, just call it polenta. They will think you are making them a tasty Italian dish, instead of a poor southern porridge. Sometimes you can find coarse ground corn meal at the supermarket. I've tried using this, but it's a little more coarse than what I like and it doesn't come out the same. If you don't want to use milk, you can use all water and it will be fine. If you're making a savory side dish for dinner(polenta), you can also use just about any kind of stock you want for the liquid ingredients.
1 pint whole milk
1 pint water
1 cup grits/polenta
1 tsp salt
Optional:
2 Tbs butter
4 oz shredded cheese (cheddar or parmesan work well)
Preheat your oven to 350. Into a dutch oven add the milk and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add everything else except the optional ingredients and whisk vigorously until it returns to a boil. Cover an place into the oven. Stir every 10 minutes. At 25 minutes taste the grits. If they taste gritty, they aren't ready. At this point recheck and stir them every 5 minutes until they no longer taste gritty. At that point they are done which takes about 25-30 minutes total cooking time.
At this point you can add the optional ingredients and serve (makes about 6 servings), ...
Or
You can really have some fun at this point by going all polenta with your grits. If you're looking for a savory dish for dinner, your options now are really only limited by your imagination. Herbs work great here, but it's best to add them initially when you are cooking the grits. Leftover vegetables cut up and mixed in work great (my favorite is asparagus). Diced ham works nicely. Sliced and sauteed peppers are awesome as are sauteed button or portabella mushrooms. Bacon works in almost any situation and this one is no exception. Reconstitute dried mushrooms in boiling water for 10 minutes. Reserve the mushroom stock, use it to make the grits. If you have any other great ideas, let me know because I'm always looking for new ones.
OK, once you have added your optional ingredients (or not added anything which is fine), put the prepared mixture into a glass loaf pan and refrigerate covered in plastic wrap for a few hours. The mixture will set up firm. Slice the loaf into 1" slices. Optionally you can brown them under the broiler. Makes a great side dish. I like to put a pork chop on top (see the pork chop thread a few days ago for my recipe).
Many in the south consider it sacrilegious to put syrup on grits. Butter, salt, and pepper are the only acceptable additions. I'm not going to tell you what to do. Personally I like to make plain grits, firm them up in a loaf pan in the refrigerator overnight, brown them under the broiler, and drizzle them with maple syrup. I usually make a double batch and do this with the leftovers the next day.
UPDATE:
Alternate microwave cooking instructions
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup cream (or milk, or just more water)
1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Stone Ground Grits/Polenta
1/4 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl. Place in microwave on high until mixture comes to a boil, then cook for 10 minutes on high or until grits no longer taste gritty. Stir every 5 minutes.
Makes 3-4 side dish size servings (~1 cup).
FWIW, I highly recommend Bob's Red Mill Grits. I don't make hominy grits, so if you like those I suspect the method will be the same, just make sure you get the real thing and not instant or quick grits.
http://www.bobsredmill.com/corn-grits_polenta.html
You can order it directly from Bob's Red Mill, but unless you're ordering other stuff the shipping will make it cost prohibitive. You can get it from Amazon and potentially get free shipping, but the problem there is you have to order a case and stone ground cornmeal doesn't keep as long as regular cornmeal. If you get it locally, check the expiration date. I think it expires a year from manufacture. Store it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
= new reply since forum marked as read
grits made with butter, two eggs over VERYVERY easy tossed into the grits, chopped up and cheddar cheese on top, crisp bacon on the side
yum!! 
that sounds delicious, and is not a way I would have thought to have grits. I love grits, my hubs, not so much. This sounds like a way I could get him to like them more.
Now excuse me while I recover form your description. You should have charged for that
the key is really soft yolks on the eggs so the eggy goodness is all through every bite
positively sinful i tell ya... 
It has ham, bacon, cheese, eggs, milk.
from a mill near here is to cover the dry grits with a few inches of water in a large bowl. The coarser brown bits will float to the top in a few minutes, then you just pour that water off. I found if I didn't rinse them first, there were chewy, wood-chip texture bits in the grits.
The extra water won't hurt and will boil off.
I love a good bowl o grits. with: Pepper, butter, cheddar, chives and bacon. But I usually skip the bacon lol and no, my name is not Paula
actually you could die from it. So much cream and butter....but it's worth it. 
