Grit Cakes with Poached Eggs

This might be my new favorite breakfast! This is another recipe from our Grain, Rice, and Beans cookbook. The Other Williams prepared this yummy breakfast a couple Sunday's ago. We found the course ground cornmeal at Whole Foods (and it was local!) but we had to ask where it was. Speaking of grits, I'm a southern gal, born and raised, so grits were a staple at my house growing up. The Other Williams, on the other hand, being from Mass, has never taken to the grit. She decided to give these a whirl though and boy was she glad she did. I've never EVER had grits so flavorful! These along with the poached egg was just delicious! We also had turkey sausage links that went perfectly with this recipe. This recipe was a little time consuming but, although we haven't tested it yet, we think the grit cakes can be made the night before, put into the fridge and brought up to room temp the next morning.

Servings: 4

Cakes
1 cup coarse grits
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp canola oil
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1 tbsp finely diced green bell pepper

Poached Eggs
Pinch of salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 poached eggs

Cakes:
Bring 5 cups water to a rolling boil in a large, heavy saucepan over high heat. Slowly add the grits, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer the grits for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent lumps from forming. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly fold in the butter and egg yolks, stirring with a wooden spoon. Grease a 6x9 in baking pan (we used a mini loaf pan, a muffin tin would also be fun,) with 1 tbsp oil. Add the cheese, diced jalapeno and bell peppers, salt and pepper to the grits and mix well. Pour the mixture into the greased pan and allow to cool.

Cut the grits into 8 squares and remove from the pan.

Heat the remaining 2 tbsp oil in a heavy non-stick skillet over med-high heat. Add grit squares in batches and sauté until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side.

Remove the cakes from the skillet and drain on kitchen towels. Serve immediately with a poached egg on top of each cake, 2 cakes and eggs per person.