An ingrained Midwestern privilege and ultimate brunch benefit is the ability to head out in the remnants of last night’s disaster for a nourishing mid-day meal. But when day turns to night, do you really want to put in the effort to “get it to together” for dinner? Of course not. So, instead of kicking your leftovers to the curb, Big Jones’ Executive Chef Paul Fehribach offers some Southern hospitality on how to salvage scraps:

“Here’s a Southern classic you can make with leftover grits. Almost any other savory leftover from brunch could be added as flavoring, such as chopped up sausage, shrimp, green tomatoes, even chopped up leftover omelets or hash browns. The key is to not use more than 1 cup of add-ins because the spoon bread will become too heavy to poof up well. The more finely chopped the add-ins are, the better the result.

More flavorful add-ins such as bacon or sausage should definitely be used more sparingly. A couple leftover strips of bacon or a sausage patty would be about perfect.” 

Fehribach’s recipe for Spoon Bread with Grits after jump.

Spoon Bread with Grits

1/2 cup leftover grits, more or less
1/2 cup fine ground corn meal, preferable white
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup buttermilk

Butter well a 9×9 baking dish, preferably ceramic or pyrex. Alternatively, approximately 12 medium muffin tins should be a good fit. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mash leftover grits with a fork. Add corn meal, salt, baking soda, and eggs, and stir well. Slowly stir in hot water. Whisk in buttermilk, and quickly transfer to prepared baking dish. Don’t worry at this point if the batter is lumpy, it will be. Bake at 375 degrees about 30-45 minutes, or 20-25 minutes if using muffin tins.

Serve at once, piping hot, with lots of butter.