Saucy Tomato Grits

Ingredients:
35 oz canned whole tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup old fashioned grits
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt
pepper

Directions:
Thoroughly drain the tomatoes, reserving juice. Cut the tomatoes into manageable bites and set aside. Pour the juice into measuring cup and add water until it equals 2 1/4 cups*. In a medium pot, bring the tomato juice to a boil. Add the grits and stir continually for about 10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed and the grits are soft. Remove from the heat. Keep covered until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet then add the garlic, onion and celery. Saute until softened, then add the tomatoes and spices. Cook 2 additional minutes or until the whole mixture is hot. Stir the mixture into hot grits and serve.


*I had to add less than 1/4 cup of water.

My thoughts:

Matt fried up some catfish for dinner and I made this as the side dish. I love to combine the starch with the vegetables, it is much simpler than making a bunch of side dishes, especially for just the two of us. Red rice has long been a favorite around here, and I got to thinking that grits would work just as well as rice. The texture is different, but the grits really absorbed the juice and had a great, fresh tomato flavor that was accented by the celery and thyme. Still waiting for tomatoes to really come in season, but this helps hold me over.

Stone-Ground Grits with Spinach and Parmesan

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup stone-ground grits (not instant)
1/2 cup defrosted frozen spinach
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
salt
pepper

Directions:
In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the grits and stir continually for about 10 minutes or until all the broth is absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, salt, pepper and spinach. Keep covered until ready to serve.

My thoughts:

If you've been reading this blog for a while you know of my penchant for making side dishes do double duty. Macaroni and cheese with rapini, mashed potatoes with extra veggies etc. While we cook nearly every meal we eat and I generally don't have any problem coming up with the main dish, side dishes always stymie me. Since we are only two people (and I generally spend a lot of time on the main dish, taking notes and whatnot) it seems superfluous to make two or more separate side dishes. So I either like to stuff vegetables in the main dish or make one all-encompassing side. These grits have your starch/bread covered, the spinach takes care of the vegetable and the Parmesan (besides making it a little creamy without adding butter, cream or even milk) is an excellent source of calcium.

Shrimp & Grits

Ingredients:

for the grits:
4 cups shrimp stock
1 cup stone-ground grits* (not instant)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

for the shrimp:
1 lb medium sized shrimp, peeled
3 slices raw bacon, chopped
2/3 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large bunch green onions, diced
juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions:
In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the grits and stir continually** for about 10 minutes or until all the broth is absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in both cheeses. Keep covered until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp, then drain on a paper towel, set aside. Leave about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the skillet. Add the shrimp and saute for 1 minutes, then add the garlic, lemon juice and celery. Cook until almost totally pink and cooked through, then add the spinach and green onions. Cook 2 additional minutes or until the shrimp is totally cooked and the whole mixture is hot.

To serve: arrange some grits on a plate, top with the shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with the leftover bacon bits (optional) and serve hot.


*If you can't find grits, try substituting some stone ground polenta. Polenta is made with golden corn and grits with white corn (or hominy or a combination of the two) but they are very similar. Purists might tell you different, but if it is a matter of not making the recipe due to a lack of grits and you have polenta-use the polenta.


**Well, fairly continually anyway, you don't want lumps. The trick is to have all of you ingredients ready to go, so while you are making the grits, you can make the shrimp part at the same time with minimal interruption to your stirring. Or better yet, draft someone to stir while you do the rest.

My thoughts:

Grits are not something I grew up eating, but after having them a few times, I was hooked. Even though Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon, it isn't exactly grits country. You can find them on the shelves without much trouble, but they are not a staple like they are just a few states away. For this recipe, I combined all of my favorite ways to eat grits: under shrimp and cheesy into one perfect meal. I added more vegetables that I've typically found in shrimp grits to make it more of a complete meal, but I think that both those new to grits and devotees will be satisfied. The grits are cheesy but not so much that they overpower the delicate shrimp. You can skip the whole bacon part but it really does add a smoky flavor that is wonderful. Just saute the shrimp in a little olive oil instead. I will say that not only is it an exceptionally tasty dish, that despite the cheese and the bacon, it is very light tasting meal.

Dinner and a DVD (WCC)- "How do you like your grits?"

When I saw that Paige over at Chef-girl was hosting WCC and her theme was Dinner and a DVD, I knew right away what movie I wanted to feature. It is one of my family's favorite movies, one that you can see over and over again, and still it makes you laugh - My Cousin Vinny. While it does have some raw language, my kids understand that there is "movie language" and "our language", and if you are really concerned, a family friendly version can be caught on TBS or ABC Family from time to time. And this movie is a classic comedy based on the cultural differences that can occur right here in our own country, classic fish out of water comedy.

There are so many hilarious moments in this movie - the famous interaction between the Judge (The Munsters' Fred Gwynne) and Vinny (Joe Pesci) when Vinny asks about the "two yutes" seen leaving the scene of the crime, to Marisa Tomei's insistence on finding good Chinese food in backwoods Alabama, to to comedy of misunderstandings that occur when Attorney Vinny first meets Billy Gambini's friend Stan Rothenstein in their jail cell. It is easy to see how Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for her performance in this movie, since she is touching and hilarious all at the same time!

But what does this movie have to do with food? Well, one of my favorite scenes is when Vinny and girlfriend Lisa go to a local diner for breakfast. They look at the menu only to find the choices are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Then there is their culture shock when they try to find out what the white substance on their plate is (grits). That scene is the inspiration for my entry- I made Breakfast a la Vinny Gambini by way of Ala- f-ing- bama (Vinny' words, not mine).

I pulled a recipe for grits from my Entertaining on the Run cookbook by Marlene Sorosky, a really great go-to cookbook with ideas for events for everything from kids' birthday parties to Sunday football suppers to elegant company meals. I have made many dishes from this cookbook, and they have all been big hits. I did tweak the recipe a bit adding some chopped sauteed onions and bacon bits and some prepared con queso sauce.

If you are a Northerner, or otherwise not knowledgeable about grits, you can either watch the diner cook explain to Vinny what they are or check out the Wikipedia entry on grits. Suffice it to say they are very similar to polenta, and are versatile as a side dish.

Breakfast consisted of cheese grits, eggs over easy, and bacon, much like what Vinny and Lisa ate in the Beechum County diner. However, in deference to Vinny's concern in the movie of the "ongoing cholesterol problem in our country" (when he sees the diner cook putting a fist-sized blob of lard onto the griddle), I used turkey bacon.

My Cousin Vinny's Cheesy Breakfast Grits

1/2 medium onion chopped

2 cups chicken boullion
1 cup quick grits (not instant)

2 tablespoons Goya Cilantro Sauce (My husband bought this without knowing what to do with it, but we love ethnic ingredients and it added a great taste to the grits)

2 tablespoons Con queso sauce (I know, its a cop-out but delicious and easy!)

2 slices bacon, crumbled

2 tablespoons butter

Two tablespoons flaxseed meal (optional)- Note: we are adding this as much as possible to boost fiber and raise the "good" cholesterol- and it adds a nice texture without masking the existing flavors of a dish- great to add to cereal, pancake batter, etc.

Put butter in pan, add onions and cilantro sauce, stir until onions are soft and then add chicken boullion. Bring mixture to boil and stir in grits, lower heat and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in con queso sauce and bacon bits until smooth and cheesy. Serve with breakfast meat and eggs for a real southern meal.

Note: Grits are very versatile, you could also serve these with shrimp for dinner or with barbecue or roasted chicken. Also you could mix in a couple of eggs, put in a greased casserole, top with cheese and bake for a side dish casserole or a delicious breakfast casserole.