Breakfast cheesy grits.

I love good Southern food.  I love shrimp 'n grits.  I love cheesy grits.  Curt makes great grits when he makes me breakfast on the weekends when I'm home, but he's not really into cheesy grits.  It's easier to make a pot of grits than one serving of grits.  Recently though, I think I've got it figured out - and instead of shrimp (Curt's allergic, so I'd have to decide I wanted shrimp 'n grits and go buy shrimp... sometimes I use chicken)  I decided to use my breakfast wrap ingredients instead ( when I do the wrap there would be feta or goat cheese and egg whites)



First the grits, Curt uses Quaker Old Fashioned grits (quick grits have a different texture... and if you ever saw "My Cousin Vinnie" you know about the stuff called instant grits)  I like these stone ground grits for when I make something 'n grits for dinner.  They are more like the texture of polenta - only white.  If you have stone ground polenta that works exactly the same - it will just come out yellow.

In a small (hopefully heavy bottomed) sauce pan  put
 2 TBSP of grits 
 1/4 cup + 1TBSP water
 1/4 cup + 2TBSP milk or cream ( I used skim because that's what I have)
 2 TSP of butter ( I use unsalted)
 and a pinch of coarse sea salt

Bring to a boil, and then turn down to a VERY LOW simmer, whisking often.

Start some water heating for the poached egg.

While that cooks, I cut up 7 baby portabellas, a 1 1/2 inch piece of andouille (you can use any meat, or skip the meat) and minced a clove of garlic ( you can add some onions, I didn't when I made this) cook them over medium heat until the meat starts to brown and the mushrooms caramelize.







Don't forget to occasionally stir the grits!!!  Add about 2 cups of fresh spinach/greens or 1/4-1/2 cup frozen and a palm full of Herbs de Provence (those are my go to herb blend - you can use Italian or whatever your favorite herb is)   I use these greens, I go through about 3 bags a week by myself for breakfast:

While the greens cook down, we're going back to the grits for a minute ( at this point the grits should have been simmering about 20 minutes ) I add in:

1 TBSP (ish) goat cheese
1 TBSP (ish) cream cheese
1/4 cup (slightly heaping) of shredded cheddar ( I used Mexican cheese blend that was left over from chilli on Sunday)



Stir often until cheese melts and incorporates into a creamy cheesy grits.



(I took the picture before I added the pepper- my real life friends will tell you that I use a LOT of pepper.. Lots..)

 

Now, add a splash of stock or even water to the mushroom/meat mixture - just enough to get any bits off the bottom and create a bit of pan sauce.  Add a spoon of vinegar to the water and drop in the egg to simmer.  Once the egg is poached to your liking (in my opinion poached eggs should always be super runny - then you get the yolk oozing onto the mushroom/meat topping and into the grits) make sure to drain it well put the mixture on top of the grits and topo with the poached egg ( I took the picture on  top before peppering the egg - pictures of egg look funny with as much pepper as I use)  I also use a dash of hot sauce - but that's just me.