Fare Exchange: Easy instructions for grits both plain and cheesy

Jane Henegar

Good morning, ides-of-October reader. Pumpkin and apples and cinnamon scents are in the air, and it wouldn't be a bad time for cornbread, either. Faithful Reader wants to duplicate the lacy cornbread served at the Southern Star Restaurant. He passes on, too, a request from a visitor from Carrollton, Ga., who wants to know where in Chattanooga one can buy pour-over coffee and, failing that, what equipment and methods can be used to make it at home.

Finally, Rossville Anonymous is looking for a reasonably easy recipe for beef stew, preferably using red wine. "I read a beef bourgignon recipe that had 42 ingredients, so I don't want to go that far. I want a comforting beef stew with wine."

I double-checked the spelling of bourgignon online and, in the process, I discovered a recipe using a pressure cooker. How about some ideas and recommendations for cooking with a pressure cooker, that old-fashioned method now coming back in style?

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Jane Guthrie read the recent question of a knife for cutting lettuce, one, that doesn't turn the lettuce brown "and the answer is plastic."

"I use a knife made by DuPont back in the last century. The serration is larger than a regular knife. Nowadays there are good, sturdy, plastic cutting knives everywhere."

Guthrie then turned to another recent question about grits, offering both general information and two specific recipes.

About Grits

Basic proportion of liquid to dry grits is 4 to 1, regardless of whether the grits are stone-ground or quick. But all grits - instant, quick-cooking, stone ground - are improved with longer, gentler cooking. To do so, at the end of cooking cover the pot and let the grits swell over very low heat for 5 minutes.

Stone ground grits are nutritious. A single serving has 100 calories, no sodium, no fat and is rich in vitamin E. Commercial grits have vitamin E, A and niacin added to replace nutrients lost in the milling process. Instant grits are the same but have sodium added. Grits also are a good source of fiber.

This recipe from "Good Old Grits Cookbook" came from Bill Neal of Crooks Corner, Chapel Hill, N.C. He was the inventor of shrimp and grits.

Basic Grits

1 cup stone-ground grits

4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pour grits in large bowl, cover with water and skim off chaff as it rises.

Stir grits about and skim again and again if you want; drain into a sieve.

Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add salt and slowly stir in the grits. Cook at a simmer, stirring until grits are done. They will be thick and creamy in about 40 minutes. Add the butter.

Company Cheese Grits

To the Basic Grits recipe add:

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Small grate of fresh nutmeg

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, more if desired

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Salt, to taste

Serve immediately or hold over simmering water in a double boiler for 30 minutes.

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More than one of you has been frustrated with the short life of lettuces in your refrigerator. A conversation thread follows, begun by Barbara.

"One of my favorite lettuces is butter lettuce or Boston lettuce. It comes in a plastic box and still has the root attached. The leaves are perfect for lettuce wraps. It stays fresh for several days. I get mine at Wal-Mart, but I'm sure all groceries carry them. Occasionally a head will have some brown at the stem, but just pick out a package that doesn't have that."

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Here is a revised recipe from Becky McGee for a garlic cheese roll, a substitute for the commercial roll that some garlic grits recipes require.

Garlic Cheese Roll

1 1/2 pounds sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 pound Velveeta cheese

3 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

Drop of liquid smoke

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely minced (garlic may be roasted with a bit of olive oil)

Warm above ingredients in a double boiler over low heat. Blend well and pour into a storage container to cool and set. Portion as needed.

I believe the Kraft cheese rolls were 6 ounces each so this recipe would make the equivalent of four of them.

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J.W. found the following recipe in "The Homesick Texan Cookbook."

Sweet Potato Muffins

These are best served warm from the oven on an especially cold morning. The combination of sweet potato, brown sugar, dates and pecans reminds you of late fall and early winter holidays.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 (15-ounce) can sweet potato, well-drained and mashed

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

1 cup dates, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Beat together the eggs, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla and oil. Stir in the mashed sweet potato until well blended. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until moist. Stir in the pecans and dates.

Spoon batter into the muffin pan until 3/4 full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pan immediately.

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It's time to downsize the lifetime of accumulation at our home. I consider the raggedy collection of cookbooks on the shelf. There are some treasures: Anything by Helen Corbitt, the GPS Cookbook "Food for Thought," the Chattanooga Christian School cookbook "Mixed with Love," "Dinner in the Diner" Junior League Cookbook and a "Joy of Cooking" to remind me how my own mother cooked. There were others, but I wore their covers off and the index disappeared, so they had to go. Can I give up these that remain, any of them, with their batter-splattered, love-tested pages? Possibly. If you decided to downsize, what cookbooks would stay on your shelf no matter what?

Just a dash

This idea comes from a conversation overheard, not a letter written. "Here is an easy party tea for a crowd. Use Lipton instant sugar-free tea mix with lemon; prepare according to package directions. Fill each glass with ice and add tea a little over halfway. Then fill to the brim with sugar-free ginger ale. You may use tea and ginger ale with sugar, too, of course."