Grits with Corn Cob Stock

When I was a kid, I adored corn on the cob.

Okay, I still adore it. But when I was a kid, I'd eat the corn off the cob, then I'd roll the cob around in the leftover butter on the plate, and I'd suck on the cob like I was still eating corn off it it, but just sort of hoovering out the last bits of flavor.

Fine. Okay. I might still do that. When no one is looking.

I mean, really, do I have to admit all my bad habits?

The point I'm wanting to make is that there's a lot of good flavor in that cob. You can't eat it ... but you can use it.

Recently, I had the book Up South in my hands thanks to a cookbook exchange group I belong to, and one of the recommendations was to make "corn stock" from corn cobs and then use that stock to make grits. I didn't try it at the time because there was no fresh corn around.

It's still not close to corn season here, but there was fresh corn at one of the local grocery stores, so I figured I'd try this corn stock thing. I didn't follow the recipe in the book (it's since been passed to the next person in the group) but I figured it couldn't be all that hard to extract flavor from some cobs.

I don't know if it matters if you use raw or cooked cobs that you've cut the kernels off of. I had two of each. But it might be kind of ... not great if you used cobs that people gnawed the corn off of. Or just not great to think that you did that.

I also included a few of the inner green leaves from the corn. My mom always used a few of them when she boiled corn on the cob, so I figured I'd toss a few into my stock as well. If you think that's weird, just leave 'em out.

Grits with Fresh Corn Stock

4 corn cobs (after the kernels are removed)
4 inner light green corn leaves from cobs (optional)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup grits (not instant)

Put the corn cobs and corn leaves in your pressure cooker (I used my Instant Pot) and set to high pressure. Cook for 10 minutes, then let the pressure reduce naturally for at least 10 minutes before venting the remaining pressure.

Remove the cobs and the leaves. You're likely to have some bits of corn floating in the water. That's perfectly fine.

Add the salt and butter, then add the grits while whisking.

When the grits are added, put the lid on and set the Instant Pot to the Porridge setting, with a time of 20 minutes. If you don't have an Instant Pot, just set it for high pressure for 20 minutes. When the time is up, let it reduce pressure naturally for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes if you get distracted. The longer you leave it, the softer and creamier the grits will be since they keep cooking during this time.

Vent any remaining pressure and remove the lid. The grits might look a little watery, but as you stir them, they'll thicken up. If you don't serve right away, they'll get even thicker, so you might need to add a bit of water if you're not quite ready for them.

If you have leftovers, refrigerate them. When you reheat you'll need to add water for sure.

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Creamy Goat Cheese and Chive Grits

I totally love grits. It's become sort of a joke in the cookbook-swap group that I belong to - if there's a grits recipe in one of the books, I'm probably going to make it.

When I got The Up South Cookbook by Nicole A. Taylor, I was happy to see that there were several grits recipes to choose from.

Or, actually, I made two of them. The first one had cheddar cheese and blue cheese mixed in. That was really good with the hint of blue cheese. But the interesting thing about that recipe was that it used corn stock - basically corn cobs simmered to make a corn-only vegetable stock.

At this time of year, I don't have fresh corn hanging around, so I used a basic vegetable stock. But when fresh corn is in abundance, I'm going to make corn stock for sure.

So anyway, the next grits recipe that struck my fancy was one that called for goat cheese and chives. The flavors sounded good, so I decided to make it. The first time ... the goat cheese I had on hand seemed a bit off. I ended up making grits with feta cheese instead. It was good, but not particularly pretty.

So I bought goat cheese. I had chives growing, so I harvested a nice handful.

And then I decided to make the grits in my Instant Pot. Why, yes, I might be getting addicted to that thing. I'm having a blast creating and adapting recipes for it. And it's nice to be able to have food done quickly.

These grits are super creamy. Probably the creamiest I've made since a slow cooker grits recipe or maybe the Tyler Florence grits recipe that included actual cream. But this one was faster and easier than either one, and required no stirring.

Right out of the pot, these were super-creamy and loose. Just like any other grits, they got a bit solid when refrigerated. This is great if you want to fry the grits, but I like them soft. That softness and looseness can be adjusted by adding more liquid (water or milk are my usual choices) as you reheat.

Creamy Grits with Goat Cheese and Chives
Adapted from The Up South Cookbook (Baked Grits and Fresh Chives) by Nicole A. Taylor

4 cups water
1 teaspoon Better Than Bullion vegetable or chicken stock concentrate
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarse grits
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
4 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Put the water, stock concentrate, salt, grits, butter, and pepper in the Instant Pot. Give it a stir. Place the lid on, make sure the knob is set for sealing, and push the porridge button. Make sure it's set for 20 minutes.

When the time is up, let the cooker stay on the "keep warm" setting for 15 minutes before turning the machine off and releasing any remaining steam.

Remove the cover and stir or whisk the grits. They will look a little watery, but they'll be nice and creamy after you stir. Add the goat cheese and stir until the cheese is melted into the grits. Add the chives and stir. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Serve.

The recipe in the book calls for baking the grits in ramekins with an egg on top, until the egg is cooked. You could also serve the grits with a fried or poached egg on top. Or just serve them plain.

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Spoon Bread from Savoring the South

My husband handed me a piece of paper and said, "Spoon bread. Is that the same as grits?"

Well, no. It's like the stepchild of grits and cornbread. It's softer and moister than cornbread, but not as oozy as grits.

I happen to love grits, and I love cornbread, too, so I was all geared up to try the spoon bread from Savoring the South by Angela Mulloy. The taglinc for the book is Memories of Edna Lewis the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking with Recipes. I think that pretty much sums up what you get.

The recipes in the book are written in an old-fashioned way, where the cookbook author assumes the reader knows basic terms and techniques. It makes the recipe directions shorter, that's for sure.

Whether on purpose or by accident, the spoon bread recipe I tried omitted a step. Egg yolks were beaten, other ingredients were added, and the next step involved egg whites, while the yolks were never spoken of again. Perhaps it was assumed that the cook would know what to do with the yolks without being specifically instructed.

I cut the recipe in half because it's best when fresh and I knew we'd never finish even half the recipe. The full recipe would be good for a large family or a gathering, but a small family would probably be fine with the half-recipe (which is what I have below).

Besides recipes, the book has a lot of narrative, so if you're the type who wants a story with your recipes, I think you'll enjoy this. As a midwesterner, I'd say that the recipes all do seem to have a southern heritage rather than a southern twist or a new southern whatever. It's like a classic old book without the musty smell.

Spoon Bread
Adapted from Savoring the South by Angela Mullow

1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs separated
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 1-quart baking dish. I used a metal chef's pan.

Heat the milk to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Sprinkle the cornmeal in slowly, stirring or whisking constantly so the cornmeal doesn't clump. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the cornmeal is the consistency of soft oatmeal. Mine got a little too stiff, so I added an extra splash of milk and whisked it in.

Turn off the heat and add the butter.

Whip the egg whites to peaks, then beat the yolks. If you beat the yolks first, you'll need to thoroughly clean your beaters, or the whites won't whip. Add the baking powder, sugar and salt to the yolks.

Add the yolks to the cornmeal mixture and stir to combine.

Fold in the whites gently. It's easiest to stir in about 1/3 of the whites to loosen the cornmeal, then fold in the rest. But do it however works for you.

Transfer the batter to your prepared pan and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until the spoon bread is puffed and the top is lightly browned.

Serve quickly.

I received this book from NetBooks for the purpose of a review.

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Creamy Carolina Grits from Inside the Test Kitchen by Tyler Florence

Not that long ago, I cooked some recipes from Tyler Florence's  Real Kitchen, so I was pretty excited to get my paws on his new book, Inside the Test Kitchen.

This new book is more than a book of recipes. It's like a mad scientist wandered into the kitchen and whispered in a few ears.

There are plenty of normal recipes, but there are also some totally wacky ones, like making burger buns by putting the batter into a soda siphon and spraying it into round molds on a griddle.

I want to give that a try, for sure, but I decided to make a more normal recipe first. Because not everyone's got a soda siphon. I wanted to make something that anyone at all could make.

On the short list for immediate cooking were crackers with cheddar and black pepper because I love making crackers; risotto, because I'm a huge fan of rice no matter how it's made, caramelized brussels sprouts with pancetta because it sounded so danged good; and a pretty crazy recipe for cornbread.

But then I saw the recipe for Creamy Carolina Grits. I adore grits.

I made one ingredient change to the recipe - it called for fresh herbs, but I try not to buy fresh herbs in the winter unless I know that I'm absolutely going to use them. Buying one of those little packages, particularly when I need just a little bit, irks me.

But that's fine. I have huge supply of dried herbs and I know how to use them. Ha!

And ... because there are only two of us, and one of us isn't the biggest fan of grits or polenta. I cut the recipe in half. I mean, I could eat this stuff until I burst, but I figured it made more sense to be just a little conservative.

The original amounts are listed below, though.

One thing I really liked about the book itself was the binding. I know that sounds a little weird, but while the book doesn't lie completely flat, it does stay open and mostly flat. Good enough to put it on the counter and cook from without pages flopping around

It's also got an elastic band that can be used as a bookmark, to keep the book closed if you're carrying it around, and to keep it on the right page when it's open.

These grits were super-creamy and rich (no doubt because of the heavy cream) and quite flavorful from the herbs and garlic. They're also not quite as yellow as typical grits made from yellow corn, again because of the addition of that cream.

I'd say that these are special occasion grits, and definitely for dinner instead of breakfast because of the herbs and garlic. Well, I guess if you like garlic for breakfast, go ahead. For me, it's more of a dinner thing.

Creamy Carolina Grits
Adapted from Inside the Test Kitchen by Tyler Florence

2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 garlic cloves, smashed
4 fresh thyme springs (I used 1 teaspoon dry)
4 fresh bay leaves (I used dry leaves)
1 cup yellow cornmeal or polenta (I used polenta)
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Put the cream, milk, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves in a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat on medium-low heat until it simmers. Cook for 10 minutes, then remove the herbs and garlic. Since I had used dry herbs, the easiest thing to do was strain it through a fine strainer, then return it to the pan. A few tiny thyme leaves made it through the strainer, but that was okay.

Crank the heat to medium and wait until it comes to a boil, then sprinkle the cornmeal in while whisking to keep the cornmeal from clumping. Once the grits have been added, keep stirring with the whisk or some other implement, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure the cornmeal starch doesn't stick and burn. Since I used a pan with a nonstick interior, there wasn't really a lot of sticking.

Continue cooking until the grits are smooth, but they still have some texture. The longer you cook, the smoother they'll get, but they'll also get thicker, so if they get too thick, add more milk or some water to thin them out.

Because I live at high altitude and it's ridiculously dry now that the heat is on in the house, liquid evaporates very quickly. I ended up adding a full cup of water to these grits before they were done cooking.

Needless to say, that's going to vary a lot, so just go by what you see and remember that when they cool, they'll be thicker. So when they're bubbling hot on the stove, that's thinner than they'll be on the plate.

When they're done to your liking, add the butter and parmesan, then taste and add salt and pepper to taste. You can add a little of the salt sooner, but since the cheese is a little salty, use a light hand and adjust at the end.

Serve hot.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

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Slow Cooker Cheesy Southern Grits

I love grits more than a person should love such a plain, homey dish. Sometimes I even get fancy and call the dish polenta, instead. I like plain grits with a little butter, cheesy grits with extra cream, spicy grits with peppers, grits with mushrooms, tomatoes or herbs... and I like them served as a side, served as breakfast, or served under shrimp, stew or tomato sauce.

Yeah, pretty much any way.

So when I saw a recipe for creamy cheesy grits in the book The Southern Slow Cooker by Kendra Bailey Morris, I knew I had to give it a try. The idea of tossing grits into a slow cooker and letting them cook unattended is pretty appealing.

These grits are supposed to cook for 2-3 hours, but I jump started them a bit by starting them on a higher temperature. I've got a Ninja slow cooker, so it's got a few extra cooking settings that let me crank up the heat fir the beginning of the cooking. Then I turned it down to finish the cooking.

Since the Ninja's interior is nonstick, I didn't bother spraying it with cooking spray. If you've got a slow cooker that has a ceramic insert, maybe you should spray - I don't know if it helps, really. I'd think that it would mix in if you do any stirring. But I don't know. Maybe it's worth doing.

This book suggests adding the grits to the water and letting it sit for 5 minutes before cooking, then skimming off any floating bits of grits. I'd never done that before. Most recipes I have call for whisking grits into hot liquid, so that floaty stuff wouldn't be floating.

So, skim or don't - whatever you think is right.

Creamy Cheesy Grits
Adapted from The Southern Slow Cooker by Kendra Bailey Morris

1 cup chicken broth
3 cups water
1 cup stone ground (not instant) grits
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (plus more to taste)
1/4 cup cream, half-and-half, or milk
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Pour the chicken broth and water into your slow cooker, then whisk in the grits. Add the butter, salt, and pepper and cook on high until the grits are cooked to your liking - figure 2-3 hours.

Add the cream (or milk or half-and-half) and the cheese. Stir and cook another  5 or 10 minutes. If the grits are too thick for your liking, you can add more liquid. If you want them a little thicker, continue cooking with the lid off.

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Cheesy Fried Polenta

I love grits. And polenta. Either or both. Love 'em.

I usually make soft polenta, but once in a while I let it chill, then I fry it a bit to brown it. So, when I got silicone mold from Good Cook with spring designs for their Spring Fling promotion, I thought it would be perfect for polenta - the size was just right for a batch of nice, thick squares.

Did I mention that this recipe is really cheesy? You might think I got just a tad carried away, but I don't think so. I like cheese. If you're not that much of a cheese fan, you can cut back.

I served this several different ways - as a simple side dish, and as lunch along with a chunky tomato sauce loaded with vegetables. And, I served it alongside eggs for breakfast.

Some of the designs looked better than others after browning, but no big deal there. No one's really looking for designs on their polenta, so any sort of design is a bonus.

You could also brown the bottom rather than the design side if you wanted to. The designs are easily visible without the browning.

When you're shopping for polenta to cook (as opposed to the already-cooked stuff) look for it in the baking section near the oddball grains. It might be labeled as polenta or as corn grits. You're not looking for the finer cornmeal that you'd use for cornbread.

Cheesy Fried Polenta

6 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups polenta
8 ounces grated mild cheddar cheese

Heat the water to boiling along with the salt. Add the polenta slowly, stirring or whisking as you go so you don't end up with lumps.

Turn down the heat so you have an energetic simmer, stirring as needed to keep it from sticking and burning, unless the polenta is very thick.

Give it a taste and see if you like the consistency. I like it fairly soft - still a teeny bit of chew, but no hard or crunchy bits. If the polenta is very thick, but you'd like to cook it longer to soften it a bit more, then add a bit more water.

When it's juuuust right, start adding the cheese a little bit at a time, stirring it in after each addition. It should all melt int the polenta.

Pour the polenta into the silicone mold. Or, if you don't have a silicone mold, you can use a baking pan or glass baking dish. Smooth the top. An small offset spatula - the type you'd use for icing a cake - works well.

Cover and refrigerate the polenta until it's firm. I usually make it the day before I need it.

When you're ready to serve, unmold the polenta and cut it into serving-sized pieces.

Heat some butter or olive oil (or a mix) in a frying pan. Brown the polenta on one side or both - whatever you like - and until the polenta is warmed through.

Serve warm.

I received the silicone pan from Good Cook at no cost to me.

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Shrimp and Grits, my way

I love shrimp and grits.

I love shrimp without grits, and I love grits without shrimp. Put them together, and I'm in nirvana. I don't know why it took me so long to discover shrimp and grits (possibly because I grew up in the midwest), but now I'm hooked.

But here's the deal. Since shrimp and grits isn't a traditional food for me, I'm more than wiling to mess around with the ingredients a bit. I made these a little bit spicy, but I also added some yellow squash from the farmer's market. Just because.

Makin' the Grits

For the grits, I used some pre-made polenta that I received from Freida's Specialty Produce. Normally, you'd slice and fry that polenta, but I decided I wanted a soft polenta. It's my favorite.

So I cut it in chunks, put it in a bowl, added water, and heated it in the microwave. When it was soft, I broke it up and mashed it a bit. Added more water, heated again.

When it was un-lumpy, I added enough water to get it to the "soft polenta" texture, then I tossed in about 1/4 cup of shredded gruyere cheese, stirred it again, then heated it to melt the cheese. Stirred one last time and served.

MMmmmmm. So good.

And now for the Shrimp

So, let's talk about these ingredients for a second, shall we? The bulb onion are like scallions that have started growing the onion part. The one I used was probably about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. You can use a few scallions, or about 1/4 of a regular onion if you don't have bulb onions. Or, if you like, you can use a lot more onion. It's not science, here.

The mini sweet peppers are about the size of jalapenos or big habaneros, but they're sweet like regular bell peppers. They were on sale and I bought a whole lot of them. A regular bell pepper would be just fine.

The vodka doesn't really add flavor to the sauce, but you know about the pasta sauce with vodka, right? You don't taste the vodka there, either, but the alcohol brings out flavor in tomatoes that you wouldn't get otherwise. Or that's the theory.

Peak 7 Vodka is a new micro distillery in Denver. I received some sample from them to try. There will be cocktails later. But for now, I decided to use it in a recipe. Because I'm wacky like that.

Shrimp 'n Polenta

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bulb onion, white and tender green parts. quartered lengthwise and sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
8 mini sweet bell peppers, quartered, seeded, and sliced thinly
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large can (28 or 32 ounces, depending on brand) diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons vodka (I used Peak 7, a local brand)
3 small yellow squash, sliced in thin rounds
2 pounds raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, sweet pepper, and salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables are softened.

Add the tomatoes and vodka and cook, stirring as needed, until the tomatoes cook down a bit - you want a fairly thick sauce. It will get more liquidy when the squash and shrimp show up.

Add the squash and shrimp and cook until the shrimp are just opaque. Don't over cook.

Serve the shrimp over the grits. Or if you like, serve them separately so people can serve themselves.

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Cheese Grits Souffle for a "Made with Love" Dinner Party

Welcome to the Made with Love dinner party. Sit down, relax. Heck, take your shoes off if you want to. After all, it's a virtual dinner party, so I won't know if you have holes in your socks.

Today, everyone in the party is cooking from one cookbook. Fun, huh?

The Made with LoveLThe Meals on Wheels Family Cookbook is a compilation of recipes from everyone from politicians to entertainers to chefs, and the recipes range from complicated to simple to semi-home made.

When I was going through the book looking for something to make, I originally decided to make a pasta recipe from a congresswoman from connecticut. I love pasta. And it looked really appealing.

Then I saw this recipe for grits souffle. I love grits more than you'd expect, considering I was born and raised in the midwest. This recipe includes two types of cheese, which is always a bonus.

Besides sending me a copy of this book for my use, the publisher is also offering a copy to one of my readers. Instructions on how to enter are below the recipe.

Cheese Grits Souffle
Recipe by James Denton from Made with Love: The Meals on Wheels Family Cookbook

4 tablespoons butter, plus more for buttering
2 cups water
1/2 cup quick-cooking grits
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup low fat (1 percent) milk
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Pinch of paprika (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use butter to grease a 2-quart baking dish or 4 6-ounce ramekins.

Bring water to a boil in a 2-quart sauce pot over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and gradually whisk in grits, continuing to whisk to eliminate any lumps. Cover the pot with a lid, and cook until water is absorbed and grits ar creamy, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and transfer grits to a large mixing bowl. Stir in butter, cheddar cheese, and salt until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk together until combined, then add to grits, whisking until well mixed. Pour entire mixture into prepared dish or ramekins. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and (optional) paprika.

Bake uncovered in preheated oven until top is golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 to 60 minutes in baking dish and 30 minutes in ramekins. Serve immediately.

Want to win a copy of the cookbook?

Leave a comment telling me if you've ever had grits, and if so, how you like to eat them.

For bonus entries, you can do any of these you like.

• Pin a photo from this post to Pinterest, then leave a comment here telling me you've pinned.
• Stumble this post, then leave a comment telling me you've stumbled.
• Tweet a link to the contest, then leave a comment here letting me know you've tweeted

And that's it. One comment to enter, and three extra ways to enter, if you want to. giveaway ends Dec. 26 at midnight, mountain time. The usual Cookistry contest rules apply.

You can find the Meals on Wheels cookbook on Facebook and on Twitter.

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