Roasted Fennel, Mushrooms & Leeks with Grits

I really try my best to not repeat things for dinner. Granted sometimes, most times, I do. But let’s be honest that wouldn’t make for a very interesting blog so I mixed things up with some grits, mainly because I didn’t have the quick cooking polenta that this recipe called for so I combined it with the grits recipe that I made this summer. I think it turned out pretty tasty.

I thought the roasted fennel would be the star of this dish - don’t get me wrong I loved it - but what really did it for me were the roasted mushrooms. Y U M. They seemed to get a deeper flavor by roasting them in the oven than what I get when I make them on the stove top, which only means one thing - we’ll be eating a lot more roasted mushrooms in our house. Plus, you can really just love ’em & leave ’em in the oven while you do other stuff - & that is one thing I can get used to.

Happy Friday! Have the best weekend :)

Shrimp with Fresh Corn Grits

I went to college in South Carolina. In the four years I lived there I really don’t remember ever eating grits. I’ve been back to visit a number of times but I never choose grits off the menu. Why? I really don’t know. Maybe I like everything that much more & I’m afraid of change. I did have grits at the fabulous wedding we attended in Charleston back in April but other than that time I can’t remember the last time before that was. Nevertheless, I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine & I felt like I had to try to make it.

First up was finding “grits” in my local Hoboken, NJ grocery store. Given that it’s a Southern staple I didn’t think I’d have much luck finding it here. My assumption was true. There wasn’t one package (that I could find) that was labeled “grits” so I found the next best thing (which in my opinion is the same thing) - coarse ground cornmeal. I’ve used it to make polenta before so I took a gamble thinking it would work for grits.

You might be thinking: what’s the difference between grits & polenta? So did I. I really have no idea. Seems to me it’s a matter of semantics, read more about the theory on that here.

Chris doesn’t remember being a huge fan of grits either but I have a feeling we’ll be having this for dinner again very soon - it’s that good. I now love grits or at least these grits!