Grits and poached egg グリッツとポーチドエッグ

This could be a "shime" 締 ending dish or, more traditionally, a breakfast. It is a variation of "Okayu" お粥 or porridge but in a US Southern style. It is a very comforting and nice starch dish. This one is prepared by my wife and I only help by chopping up the chives and making the poached eggs.

Grits is a very Southern food and my wife is not even from the South but we adapted this dish for some reason. Instead of the more traditional grits which is eaten as a breakfast with additions of cheese, butter or maple syrup (a Northern addition to a Southern dish...don't ask why), we make it savory. We cook the grits in milk instead of water. Just in case you are not familiar with grits, it is coarsely ground alkaline-treated hard kernel corn. Alkaline treated corn prevents the development of a niacin deficiency (Pellagra) especially if your main diet consists of corn. I do not know who first figured this out but certainly American Indians ("hominy" from which grits is made) and Mexicans ("masa harina" for corn tortilla is also made from alkaline treated corn) must be among the first. This treatment also created another flavor different from regular corn meal. Grits and polenta are similar yet distinctive in their taste. The description below is how my wife makes grits.

Grits: She prefers to use "Quick" grits (Quaker brand) rather than "Instant" grits. Quick grits, which has been pre-steamed and then dried, requires about 5 minutes cook time but it is more "authentic" in flavor and consistency than  the "instant" variety. True old fashioned stone-ground grits will take way too long to cook. 

For two small serving, in a small but deep pan, add milk (one cup, we use 1%) and just when it starts boiling, add salt (1/4 tsp) and grits (3 tbs) while stirring with a whisk, turn down the flame and cook covered for 5 minutes until all the milk gets absorbed. Add chopped fresh chives (3-4 tbs). She adds 1 pat of  butter (1/2 tbs) but no cheese.

Poached eggs: I poach eggs very simply without any vinegar and without any special techniques or gadgets but works all the time. I used a 8 inch frying pan with non-stick surface and with a high side wall so that it can have enough depth of water to completely submerge the eggs. After the water comes to a gentle boil, I adjust the heat so no or only few bubbles form in the water (many bubbles result in egg-drop soup). I then add 1 tsp of salt (just for seasoning). I crack the egg into a small ramekin or bowl and gently slide the egg into the water. Repeat the process. After the white is set and the egg yolk becomes opaque on the surface (4-5 minutes), using the perforated spoon or silicon spatula gently pry the bottom of the eggs from the surface of the pan; take care not to break the yolk. The eggs should come loose without a problem because of the non-stick surface. Pick up the egg using a perforated spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Place the grits in a bowl and put the poached egg on top. Sprinkle with salt and serve. For breakfast my wife serves this with her home-made buttermilk biscuit (another Southern specialty) but for the "shime" dish serve as is. Break the egg yolk and mix it with the grits. Even if you are not from the South, you will like this dish.

Southern cheese grits soufflé チーズグリッツスフレ

This is another Southern grits dish my wife made. We had this as an ending dish one evening but this is also a perfect breakfast item. It is a kind of soufflé with grits as a stabilizer. It is quite good but we (I) burned our/my tongue(s) since the ramekins retained heat so well. If you are going to try this recipe, I suggest to let it cool for 10 minutes or so before tasting.

I have to ask my wife to fill in the recipe.

The amount below made 4 small ramekins like seen here (about 3 inch in diameter).

Grits:I made a batch of grits according to the recipe on the box. Basically it was 1 cup of milk, and a pinch of salt. I brought the milk just to the boil and stirred in 3 table spoons of grits. I brought it back to the boil then reduced to simmer and cooked for 5 minutes.

Grits “soufflé”: I preheated the toaster oven to 325 degrees then generously greased 4 individual ramekins (about 3 inch diameter). We had some leftover garlic chips. (a sliced garlic clove slowly sautéed in olive oil until it starts to brown, then quickly removed before it starts to burn). I cut the chips into small pieces and added them with 1/4 cup milk and 4 Tbs. butter and a cup of grated cheddar cheese to the cooked grits. I then took 2 eggs and slowly tempered them by adding spoonfuls of the hot grit mixture to the eggs and stirring. I added the tempered eggs to the rest of the grits mixture. I poured the mixture into the ramekins and put into the preheated toaster oven and cooked them for about 30 minutes.

The final dish was beautiful. The grits puffed up just like a soufflé. This is a a very satisfying dish. The garlic chips add a nice mellow garlic flavor that can’t go wrong with the combination of garlic and cheddar cheese. The texture is almost like a very firm pudding with a gritty texture (from the grits of course). I think it would also be good made with polenta. My husband found it good too but in his hurry to taste it really burned his tongue. Next time we will let it cool for a while.

Shrimp and Grits with Poached Egg 温玉のせ海老とグリィツ

Dishes made with grits used to be a breakfast staple for us. These included such things as shrimp and grits and grits with poached egg. One day recently, my wife mentioned, “we have not had grits for a long time.” So, we got a package of “instant” grits. We used them for a sort-of-combination lunch dish of shrimp and grits with home pasteurized poached eggs. When I got ready to take a “serving” picture, however, I noticed everything was sort of white (except maybe for some light pink from the shrimp). To brighten things up I snarfed some baby arugula and tomato from the salad I had made as a side dish. This was a really gentle but satisfying lunch.

Ingredients: (2 servings)
1/2 cups grits
2 cups liquid (either milk or water, we used the liquid the shrimp were poached in.)
2-3 pats of unsalted butter
6 large shrimp (we used shell-on frozen shrimp)
2 pasteurized eggs

Directions:
Thaw the shrimp in cold 2% salted water for 30 minutes. Drain out the shrimp but keep the salted water. Add the salted water to a pan. When it boils, turn down the heat and add the shrimp. Let them gently poach for 2-3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan and peel off the shell. Add the shell back into the poaching liquid and gently boil for a few minutes. Strain out the shells and set aside the poaching liquid. Slice the shrimp in half length wise.

Cook the grits for 5 minutes using the poaching liquid, stirring occasionally. When the grits have thickened turn off the flame and add the butter. Taste and if needed add more salt.

Top the cooked grits with the shrimp and the poached egg in the center.

Shrimp and Grits シュリンプ アンド グリッツ

As usual, we were in Hilton Head island in shrimping season. One of joys of being here is the view of the ocean from our balcony including shrimping boats that come very close to the shore and, as a result, enjoying peel and eat fresh local white shrimp. The first night, we boiled up a pound and a half of white shrimp. With a good crusty bread and wine, it was dinner. Using the leftover shrimp and a broth made from the water used to boil the shrimp with the peeled skins added, we made a classic southern dish “Shrimp and Grits”.This could be a breakfast dish or ending dish for a snack dinner with wine.

We made this in a rather simple way. Some traditional recipes suggest making Tasso ham gravy and using chicken broth to make the grits. We made the grits using the shrimp broth, ham, onion and leftover boiled shrimp. For two servings like you see above we used;

Grits – 1/4 cup Quaker oats quick (5 minutes) grits. Real stone-ground hominy (alkali-treated corn) takes too long to cook and “instant” kind does not have the right consistency.
Shrimp broth – 1 and 1/4 cup. This was salted when we boiled shrimp. Just enough saltiness that you could drink it.
Onion 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped.
Ham – two slices of good packaged ham, cut into small bite sized pieces.

My wife first sautéed the onion in a small sauce pan with olive oil (1-2 tbs) until soft and slightly browned (about 5-7 minutes), added the ham and the shrimp broth. When the broth came to a boil, she added the grits, stirred and turned down the heat to simmer for five minutes with a lid on. Then she added a tablespoon of butter and several gratings of parmesan cheese.
We served this in  a small bowl with the boiled shrimp and chopped Italian parsley as a garnish.

This dish was the essence of “shrimpiness”. The grits had a lovely light fresh shrimp taste and sweetness from the broth. The broth was what really made the dish. Although we did not make Tasso ham gravy, the onion and ham added a nice dimension. Something this good can only be made with the impeccably fresh shrimp available here. Especially with the view of ocean and shrimping  boats from our balcony, this was a perfect dish.

Shrimp cocktail in Hilton Head ヒルトンヘッドの茹で海老のオーロラソース

This is leftover peel and eat shrimp we made on the first evening at Hilton Head. I have posted “shrimp and grits” also made from the leftover shrimp and broth made from the discarded peels. I served this as an appetizer. Since I did not have my usual pantry, I made this sauce from whatever was available. Since we did not have appropriate vessels, I also made a cup from a half lemon.

The dipping sauce was made of mayonnaise (2tbs), ketchup (1 tbs), finely chopped sweet onion (2 tbs), finely chopped sweet pickles (1 tbs) and parsley (1 tbs), grated lemon zest (1/2 tsp) and lemon juice (1 tbs). The mixture of mayo and ketchup is popular in Japan and often referred as “aurora” sauce.

I shelled the boiled shrimp and served it with wedges of lemon and baby arugula. We had this with sparkling wine from California “Domaine Chandon” Reserve Brut. (We are partial to this winery since we had several memorable times at their restaurant). The shrimp was impeccably fresh, sweet, succulent and jumbo size—almost like small lobsters. They were shrimp at their finest something we have found to be consistent here.

The fabulous shrimp were followed by a main course of fillet mignon (which was a very good cut of beef from a local gourmet grocery store) with green asparagus and my wife’s smashed potatoes. We switched to “Darioush” 2009 Cab. This was a bit on the decadent side but we were on vacation. Sitting on the balcony in the candle light (we had a combination of LED candles and real candles. The LED candles were included because the wind from the ocean sometimes makes it impossible to keep the real candle lit), watching the moon rise over the ocean, listening to the surf and looking out at the bobbing lights of the shrimping boats as well as the lights from several large freighters on the horizon heading to Savannah, we could not have had a better dinner at any restaurant.

Table of Contents 2026

January 2026
January 1     Happy New Year 2026 明けましておめでとうございます
January 2    “Ozoni” New Year’s Soup お雑煮 2026
January 5    Osechi from Sushi Taro 2026 すし太郎のお節
January 8    Chocolate Brownie Pudding チョコレートブラウニープディング
January 11    Japanese “Kabu” Turnip Simmered in Broth 蕪の煮物
January 14    Japanese Sweet potato Blini さつまいもビィリニ
January 17    Simmered “Satoimo” taro with squid 里芋とイカの煮物
January 19    Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タンの焼肉
January 20    Persimmon in Tofu Dressing 柿の白和え
January 23    Cauliflower-puree Blini カリフラワーピュレー　ビィリニ
January 25    Gingerbread Pancakes with Date Sauce ジンジャーブレッドパンケーキ
January 26    “Bento” Lunch Box 弁当
January 29    Chestnuts and Apple Blini 栗とリンゴ味のビリニ

February 2026
February 1    Warm sake on a cold night 寒夜の燗酒
February 4    Cranberry sauce muffins クランベリーソースマフィン
February 7    Appetizers; one with Shad Roe 酒のつまみ
February 10    Custardy Apple Cake カスタードアップルケーキ February 13    Salted “Kabocha” 塩かぼちゃ
February 16    Fried “Renkon” Lotus Root with “Aonori” dried seaw...
February 19    Valentine‘s day sashimi dinner バレンタインデイ刺身ディナー
February 22    Valentine’s day cake バレンタインデイケーキ
February 25    Crispy Cheese Rice Puffs チーズライスパフ
February 28    Persimmon and “Kabu” turnip salad 柿と蕪のマリネ


March 2026
March 3    Peanut butter pancake ピーナッツバターパンケーキ
March 6    Cold Jade Eggplant in broth 茄子の翡翠煮
March 9    Cream Cheese Biscuits クリームチーズビスケット
March 12    Roasted Red Pepper Sauce V2 赤パプリカのソース
March 15    Pan-fried Oyster Mushroom 平茸の洋風ソテー
March 18    English Muffin Loaves イングリシュマフィンローフパン
March 21    Honey Oatmeal Roll 蜂蜜とオートミールのロールパン
March 24    Shrimp and Grits with Poached Egg 温玉のせ海老とグリィツ