Cascading Kitchen Notes
- Add some red pepper flakes to the boiling water to spice things up.
- Dried Kale, reconstituted first in the boiling water before adding the grits, adds a lovely green in addition to their nutrition.
- This recipe can handle up to 2 lbs of fresh, braised greens.
- Slice slabs of the cooled grits about 3/8" to 1/2" thick. Fry in some olive oil. A nice low heat for 20-30 minutes will give you a lovely crisp to go with your breakfast eggs.
- Add squash to the polenta for another tasty variation. Try our Pumpkin Polenta.
- Chop the cooled polenta into 1/2" squares and fry into a hash with sausage and veggies.
- Use a thin slice of polenta as you would a cracker to hold any variety of minces, specialty meats and tapenades. Put a little crisp on the polenta by frying first.
Polenta (grits)
- Bring 8 cups of water to boil in a heavy bottomed pan with a lid.
Add, while stirring constantly
- 2 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tsp. black pepper
- 2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill Grits
Keep stirring until it looks like porridge. Reduce the heat to LOW and cover. The more you stir the creamier it will get, but I typically don't have time to stir a lot. It will need to cook for a total of 45 minutes. When it thickens, use a flat bottom, metal spatula to scrape and stir all the way to the bottom of the pan every 10 minutes to avoid burning. Taste a sample to make sure they're cooked thoroughly.
We eat them fresh for breakfast the first morning with a slab of butter. The remainder can be placed in an oiled bread pan where they will set up into a loaf that can be sliced and fried for subsequent meals.
Alternatively, while they're still warm, you can spread them out on a sheet pan into a thin layer, allow them to cool and top with a variety of ingredients. Try our Roasted Tomato and Onion on a Polenta Bed.