Savory grits with extra corn and green onion greens, Parmesan cheese, and parsley.
A dear friend of mine from Alabama called me recently and demanded to know, “why aren’t there any grits on your site?!”
Uh, because I’m not Southern and I can’t even try to fake it with our readers?
Well my dear ole dad found a recipe for grits he couldn’t pass up. The recipe is by the wonderfully talented chef Virginia Willis in her book, Bon Appetit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking.
These grits were so good he made the recipe twice!
What I have learned in researching grits is that people who grew up eating them are passionate about how they like them — white corn, hominy grits, with syrup for breakfast, etc.
So, if you have a particular way that you like your grits, please let us know about it in the comments.
By the way, according to NBC, Michael Phelps eats grits for breakfast, along with several fried egg sandwiches, an omelet, three slices of French toast, and a stack of chocolate chip pancakes. Breakfast of champions.
Grits with Corn and Onion Greens Recipe
- Prep time: 5 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large white or yellow onion, grated
- 1 cup whole corn kernels, either frozen or freshly cut from the cob
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup stone-ground grits or coarse-ground grits
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about 3 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh green onion greens
Method
1 Cook the onion and corn kernels: Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the grated onion and cook, stirring, until transparent, about 2 minutes.
Add the corn kernels and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kernels become soft, about 5 minutes.
2 Add the milk, water, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
3 Whisk in the grits, decrease the heat to low, and simmer, whisking occasionally, until the grits are creamy and thick, 45 to 60 minutes.
4 Stir in the butter, Parmesan, parsley, and chopped green onions. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper.
