Recipe - Garlic Grits And Greens Squares

3 tablespoon Unseasoned dry bread crumbs
1 pound Collard greens; trimmed and
chopped, or 1package (11
oz) chopped frozen collard
greens
3 tablespoon Unsalted butter
4 ounce Smoked ham; cut into
1/4inch dice
4 Cloves garlic; minced
3 cup Milk
One half teaspoon Salt
One half teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
One fourth teaspoon Cayenne
1 cup Uncooked quick grits
One half cup Grated Parmesan cheese
4 Eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a shallow 2quart
baking pan and sprinkle the bottom and sides with the bread crumbs. Boil or
steam the fresh collards until tender, about 5 minutes. Or thaw and squeeze
excess moisture from the frozen collards. Set aside.

2. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook the ham
over mediumhigh heat, stirring often until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add
the garlic and collards and cook, stirring often, 2 minutes more. Set
aside.

3. In a heavy 3quart saucepan, bring the milk, salt, pepper and cayenne to
a boil. Stir in the grits, reduce the heat to mediumlow and cook, stirring
almost constantly until the grits are very thick, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in
the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, cheese and cooked ham and vegetables.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in about 1 cup of the grits to
warm the eggs. Blend the egg mixture back into the grits in the saucepan.

4. Spoon the grits into the prepared baking pan. Set the pan in a larger
pan halffilled with hot water. Bake until firm, puffed and golden, 45 to
55 minutes. Remove the baking pan from the water bath and let stand for at
least 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

Leftovers The squares become quite firm as they cool and are good served
with chopped fresh tomatoes dressed with vinegar and oil.

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NOTES : For truly vegetarian squares, you could leave out the ham, but then
you might add about 1/3 cup more grated Parmesan cheese for extra flavor.

Recipe by: “Everybody Loves Meatloaf” by Melanie Barnard

Posted to MCRecipe Digest by "abprice@wf.net" abprice@wf.net on Feb 26,
1998