ravenously

I based this dish roughly off a recipe for a mushroom and grits souffle from Stalking the Green Fairy, by James Villas.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add a dash of salt, and add 1 cup stone-ground white grits, stirring them in with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to keep the grits from sticking.

Grease a 2-quart Pyrex casserole dish and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Turn off the heat on the grits, and stir in:

• 1/2 stick butter,
• a couple of teaspoons soy sauce,
• a splash of dark sesame oil,
• ground nutmeg,
• freshly ground black pepper,
• dried red pepper flakes,
• 1/2 package of frozen spinach (more, if you can get it–we ran out)
• 5 eggs, beaten
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• optional (I didn’t use this but I think it would be good): grated sharp cheddar cheese

Pour into the greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with something pleasant–I used a few french-fried onions, the original recipe calls for buttered breadcrumbs, or I bet some Parmesan cheese would go nicely.

Bake for about 45 mins to an hour at 350 degrees, until puffed and golden.

It’s not really a souffle, as far as I know–I think real souffles have the whites beaten to stiff peaks and then folded into a bechamel-type sauce thickened with the yolks–but it’s a pleasant, tasty dish, somewhat healthy as is, and would be positively wholesome with a larger proportion of greens.