New Recipe: Simple but Sophisticated Creamy Mascarpone Grits with Corn

We love a new approach to anything classic here at Glover Gardens and today’s share is about how we dressed up instant grits to be worthy of an elegant meal, which will be the first in a new series with menu suggestions (coming soon).

Let’s get right to it!

Creamy Mascarpone Grits with Corn

Serves 6; cooking and prep time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients

• Instant grits (around ¾ cup; see instructions on instant grits box for amount to make 4 servings)
• Chicken or vegetable stock (around 3 cups; see instructions on instant grits box for liquid amount to make 4 servings)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup yellow or white onion, diced
• kernels cut from 2 ears of fresh corn (about 1 to 1½ cups), or the same amount of frozen or canned corn (but fresh is better!)
• 1 tbsp Zippy Cajun or your favorite cajun-creole spice mix
• 1 4 oz. can of green chiles, your preference of mild or hot
• 4 oz. mascarpone cheese (substitute cream cheese if you can’t find mascarpone; see note)
• ¼ cup sliced green onions (white and tops), for garnishing

Cooking Instructions

Following the instructions on the box and omitting salt, make the instant grits recipe for 4 servings. Cover and keep warm on the lowest setting on the stove.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet and then saute the minced garlic, diced onion and corn kernels with the Zippy Cajun or other spice mix for about 6-8 minutes on medium-high heat, or until the onions have softened but the corn is still al dente. Add the green chiles, then stir the mixture into the grits, mixing well. Stir in the mascarpone cheese, mixing until it is melted. Keep warm on low until you are ready to serve. Garnish with green onions.

Join Me in the Kitchen

This delectable side dish is borderline spicy from our Zippy Cajun spice mix, but only in an intriguing, “let’s have another bite” kind of way. I encourage you to spend the few minutes making our spice mix, because you’ll have lots of other uses for it! The grits are sinfully creamy, with a luscious mouth feel from the mascarpone cheese, and the crunch of the fresh corn provides a wonderful textural balance. The best part? This dish is easy, easy, easy, but you’d never know if from the sophisticated taste. Try this once and you’ll be a believer.

We paired these grits with our blackened fish, but they can work with so many other meals! They’re a great side for or other seafood (not just shrimp!), or a weeknight panini, or a wonderful companion for grilled meats of any kind. Or just top them with a fried egg and have a vegetarian meal, or serve with bacon or sausage for breakfast. There’s no limit to the partnership for these wonderful grits, my friends.

Mascarpone Magic

One of the reasons these grits are so good is the mascarpone cheese. It’s an Italian cream cheese, but so much richer and smoother than the cream cheese we’re used to in America. It has a higher percentage of cream than any other cheese, but don’t ask about the calories, because that’s not a conversation we want to be having when we’re singing the praises of this cheese. Mascarpone is best known for its starring role in tiramisu, that wonderfully creamy, espresso-laden Italian dessert whose name translates literally to “pick me up”.

I love tiramisu, and it was the first dish I tried with mascarpone cheese in it, years and years ago. The creamy, silky mouthfeel of mascarpone is unmatched, but it shouldn’t be confined to the dessert table—our grits are a proof point for that. But if you can’t find mascarpone cheese at your local grocery store, don’t fret; cream cheese is a close second and your grits will still be delicious.

A Delightful Dinner

We tried this new recipe out last Saturday night and were delighted with the results. The upcoming series with menu combinations will provide complete recommendations for meals with dishes that complement each other, and getting these grits right was important to provide an accompaniment for the blackened fish.

More to come!

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