Grits & Greens, another way

I have already given a recipe (posted on the What's for Dinner page) for grits with sauteed greens served on top. I love this recipe too. Earlier this week I was privileged to represent Castle Valley Mill at the Eat Here dinner for the Funder's Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities (whew, that was a mouthful). In preparation for this dinner I worked closely with Fran from Castle Valley Mill and we enjoyed our day of recipe testing. Ultimately we chose to highlight thier red grits made from Bloody Butcher red corn. It is a rare and unique product and incredibly flavorful. So I created a new Grits & Greens recipe that would work for the event and I want to share it with you because it is super delicious and a one pot dish. The guest at the dinner event were all a buzz over our Grits & Greens Medallions. We chose Blue Moon Acres microgreens to garnish after I sauteed these medallions (made with an ice cream scoop) in a cast iron pan with butter. Admittedly, when you start heating butter in a pan and you're the only one live cooking, you do tend to draw a crowd. For home use though, the best part of this dish for me is, you can make a double batch and eat it right out of the pan the first night, then with the leftovers, scoop out the cold grits with an ice cream scoop and saute it in a pan with butter until nicely browned on both sides like I did for the event and it is possibly even better. You can make this for a crowd, the recipe doubles and triples very easily. I made 9 recipes for the event and the only change I made was to reduce the salt by two teaspoons. Everything else was exactly the same. I hope you'll try it both ways! Enjoy!

Red Grits & Greens

1 cup Castle Valley Mill red grits (can use their yellow grits as well)

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups baby greens such as spinach or a mixture of your choice

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Put all ingredients into a medium pan except spinach and cheese, stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Once mixture is boiling, add greens on top but do not stir. Cover, reduce to simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. You want the grits to have some texture. Do not overcook. Stir greens into grits and add cheddar cheese. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Allow to cool completely if making medallions. Can be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator for medallions. Allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes before sauteeing.