I ate some great food at the beach this week, but one of the best things I put in my mouth had nothing to do with fish or crabs. It was a slice of Pimento Cheese Grits I ordered as a side dish at Basnight’s Lone Cedar Café.
I love grits and I love a good, spicey pimento cheese. Why not mix the two for a match made in southern heaven?
Here is the recipe from the Cookie Rookie, one of my sources for great southern dishes.
You can make this a little harder by making your own pimento cheese (my mom made the best in the world), and you can use the more labor-intensive, stone-ground grits, or you can make it easy on yourself with store-bought Pimento Cheese and Quick Cook Grits.
I have found that Palmetto Pimento Cheese out of Pawley’s Island, SC is the best on the market. Rich and spicey! Use that if you can find it. And plain, old Quaker Oats 5-minute grits work well. Chicken broth for the liquid, instead of all water, seals the deal.
Bring 2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat a bit and add 2 T of unsalted butter. Slowly add 1 cup of grits and stir constantly until the grits are tender, about 2 minutes. Next, mix in ½ C pimento cheese and some kosher salt.
You can serve this hot, and in a bowl, but Basnight’s put their grits in a casserole dish and let them set. Then, they sliced the grits into squares and served them as a side. They were terrific.
Pimento Cheese Grits
2 C Chicken broth (unsalted)
1 C Water
2 T unsalted butter
1 C quick cooking grits
½ C pimento Cheese
¼ t kosher salt
