Everyone has her ultimate comfort food. Mine is grits. Every time I don’t feel well, be it a headache or an upset stomach, I look to the grits to help me feel better.
I don’t know how grits came to hold this special place. In fact, I wonder if oatmeal feels that grits have stolen the title that rightfully belongs to them. I am pretty sure that growing up, I ate more oatmeal than I did grits. There was one year, however, when I ate grits almost every morning. I made them in the microwave in a white bowl with black dots on it. Not neat, uniform dots, this bowl had dots that were reminiscent of the speckling you might see on a bird’s egg. I had grits the morning I took my ACT. Ahh…the memories.
I don’t microwave grits anymore. I always cook them on the stovetop. Actually, I find grits unforgiving in the area of preparation. In my world, you are sure to salt and butter your water, bring it to a gentle bowl then add the grits. Then you stand there and stir. Do not put the spoon (or whisk) down at all. It won’t take long for the grits to cook, and you wouldn’t want lumps. As much as I love grits, a lump is a crying disaster. Remember, the texture that you see in the pot is not the texture you will have in the bowl. They firm. I am very careful about this, as in my world, grits are a spoon food, not a fork food.
I usually have my grits plain. They’re culinary hard-workers who don’t need to get dressed up. Occasionally, sometimes I’ll jazz them up with cheddar. (To be added during the cooking process.)
Today, however, I deviated from form, adding toppings to the grits. I had planned on making pasta that using these flavors. It would have been radiatore with a blue cheese sauce with the avocado, bacon and tomato as the toppings. However, with this cold, I needed the comfort of grits.
Grits with toppings (for one)
1 cup water
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup grits
1 sliver butter (use your judgement)
1/2 small avocado, diced
1/2 roma tomato, diced
2 T blue cheese
1/2 T (real) bacon pieces
1. Put the water, salt and butter together in a small pot; bring water to a boil.
2. Add the grits, and stir constantly until they almost reach the consistency you prefer.
3. Place the grits in a bowl or on a plate and add the toppings.
This is best eaten immediately.