I’m a Southern girl, and I was practically weaned on grits. They were probably one of the first things I learned to “cook” by myself. Granted, that was measuring out 3 tablespoons of instant grits, adding the appropriate amount of water, and sticking them in the microwave. Not exactly gourmet eats. Now I kick it up a bit. I stick the instant grits into a pot of boiling water to make enough for the family. 
Seriously, though, cooking a pot of them on the stove makes them taste so much better than nuking 1 serving!
Yesterday, Jimmy requested cheese grits and a ham steak for dinner. He did the ham, but I searched for just the right cheese grits recipe. Here’s what I found. I found this recipe on chow.com and it came from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose (a book I may have to track down, if all the recipes are this good!).
3 1/2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 c quick cooking grits
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated (2 cups)
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
5 large eggs
1/8 tsp paprika
Mix 1 1/2 cups of the milk, water, butter, salt, and garlic in a large sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil. Slowly whisk in the grits and continue to whisk for 1 minute. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.
In a large bowl, add the remaining milk, eggs, pepper sauce and black pepper and whisk it all together. Gradually add hot grits, stirring to combine (I found this step a little weird – the grits want to clump all together). Pour grits mixture into a buttered casserole dish (about 2.5 qt) and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 325°F for about 45 minutes, or until the edges puff up and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
The only problems I had while cooking this were trying to incorporate the grits and then the cooking time. I don’t know if it’s because my dish was too deep, but it took at least an hour to get the grits to a satisfactory consistency. At 45 minutes the center was still very soupy.
That said, the finished product was very tasty! The eggs gave it a very light texture and all the tastes melded together very well. However, it wasn’t quite what we had both had in mind. We really wanted the grits to be the more prominent ingredient, but instead the eggs really stood out. We all liked it (including my 11- and 12-year-old children), and I will definitely make this again (it would be great for a pot luck brunch or something along those lines), but I will keep looking for something a little denser. If you have any favorite cheese grits recipes, please share them!
