garlic grits souffle

in high school my best friend, megan, and I fell in love with some boys from staten island, ny we met on a school trip to atlanta and were appalled to learn they’d never TRIED grits before. ever. que’ horrible! they made a special trip to ihop to remedy this situation since it was their first time visiting the south, but HATED them. everyone with taste loves grits, right?
it turns out that they thought grits were like cream of wheat, so they put JELLY in them. arg. the romance was doomed from that moment on.

for any of you out there who either have never tried grits OR tried the basic ones multiple times and never liked them because they were bland, or had a weird texture, or used some other crazy reason to dislike them, then try this. now. seriously. generations of mississippi women in my family have relied on this recipe, and it’s currently THE christmas morning brunch staple at my house. alas, one of the ingredients is un-findable since kraft stopped making it, but i have it on good authority you can make a decent substitute OR find some other version if you look hard enough. are you ready? because this is heaven…

garlic grits souffle adapted from gourmet of the delta
what you need:
5 c. water, salted
1 c. quick grits
1 roll kraft garlic cheese (if you stockpiled it in your freezer before they stopped making it) if not, use 1/3 package of velveeta cheese product + 2 cups extra sharp cheddar + 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 c milk (or, if you’re adventurous, 1 c heavy cream)
1 egg, beaten

what you do:
stir grits into boiling water and cook until done (this is what the recipe book says, but from many, many years of grits making, i’m going to tell you that you should slowly stir in the grits little by little so they don’t clump, then turn the heat waaaayyyy down for 2-3 minutes until the liquid isn’t really visible. this means they’re probably done). Cut the velveeta into pieces and shred the cheddar, then stir into the grits with the garlic powder and butter.

whip the egg and fold it into the grits after they’ve cooled a bit. Move the grits to a buttered casserole dish, and then bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

however, i didn’t forget to take a photo of us eating it the NEXT night. ta-da! garlic grits, or cheese grits souffle… (shown here with venison and spinach souffle, but it’s also DELICIOUS for brunch with grillades, or as the other half of shrimp and grits).