Cheese Grits and Collard Greens Recipes

For a vegetarian version, eliminate the bacon, and use mushroom stock, vegetable broth or water rather than chicken stock and olive oil instead of butter. The cheese is up to you…it’s delicious with it, but the plain, non-savory version is great too and it makes a wonderful breakfast porridge served with maple syrup or molasses. You can also pan-fry the chilled left-over grits the next morning for a great breakfast side, sweet or savory. The possibilities are limitless. Collards greens are what we have an abundance of now, but kale, spinach or mustard greens would also be great.

Related Post: Two June’s Corn-Fed Girl

Ingredients:

For the Cheese Grits:

• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter or olive oil
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
• 6 cups Homemade Chicken Stock
  or Many Mushroom Stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups stone-ground yellow corn grits
• 2 Tbs. minced fresh thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 oz. finely grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, cook the shallots in the butter over medium heat until very soft, about 10 minute.
2. Add the stock and the garlic; cover and bring to a boil.
3. Add the grits and the thyme and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Cook, stirring constantly, until the grits have absorbed all the liquid and are tender and creamy, but with a bit of tooth left.
5. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions for the Collard Greens:

1. 2-3 big bunches of collard greens, center ribs removed, sliced across into ribbon, about 24 cups
2. 5 pieces of bacon, cut in 1” pieces
3. 1 large sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
4. 10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
5. 2 cloves garlic, minced
6. ¾ cup stock or water
7. 2 tsp. sugar
8. Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot with at least 6” of water to a boil.
2. Add the collard green in batches, stirring to submerge and make room for them all.
3. Once they are all in, set timer for 5 minutes. Drain well in large colander.
4. Meanwhile, in a very large skillet or wok, fry bacon until just crisp. Remove pieces and drain.
5. Remove all but 3 tablespoons bacon fat from the pan.
6. Add the onion and cook on medium heat until softened and just beginning to brown, about 6 minutes.
7. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook until mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes.
8. Add stock and scrape up any browned bits.
9. Add the collard greens, half the reserved bacon pieces, the sugar and season with salt and pepper.
10. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the collards have absorbed most of the liquid. Sprinkle with remaining bacons after plating.

Yield: Serves 8 to 10

Recipe courtesy of TwoJunes, Lisa Bell and Nicole Rees