Corn Beef Hash Grittata

Do you ever find yourself binging on cooking shows? That's what I found myself doing the other weekend. Many times I'm running around on the weekend, so I've started recording shows to watch later. Of course what happened is then I spend hours watching cooking shows back to back. Sometimes these shows inspire me to make new dishes or to think differently about my combination of ingredients. The other day, Chef Marcela hit me with the mother load.

The Kitchen had its breakfast special and I found myself engrossed. Chef Marcela had me the moment she said sausage and grits. It's a combination that reminded me of when I used to work in this breakfast dive while in high school. I worked Sunday mornings so most of the customers were repeat clients. Initially the dishes the would request seemed odd to me but their satisfaction with the food encouraged  me to try new things. It was while working there that I first tried beef sausage and beef bacon. My food escapades there...that's a story for another time. Back to Marcela's dish.

What caught my attention was that Marcela's dish was high protein breakfast. I've been looking to boost my overall protein intake. When I have a long day, that's exactly what I need to get me through. Though I love her Cheesy Sausage Breakfast Grits, I altered it to fit what we like and I might have actually increase the protein in the dish. I'm using the term "grittata" because that's what Jeff Mauro called it and I like it. Of course, if you don't like corn beef hash, swap it out for sausage or bacon.


Corn Beef Hash Grittata
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

1 can of corn beef hash
2 cups of milk
1 cup of water
1 cup of quick grits
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
5 large eggs
2 green onions/scallions chopped
1 teaspoon of salt
pepper

Tools Needed: Cast iron pan and whisk.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a cast iron pan over medium heat begin cooking corn beef hash.

Allow hash to cook 4  to 5 minutes allowing it to brown.

Remove hash from pan and set aside.

Add 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water to pan and bring to a boil.

Add 1 teaspoon of salt.

Reduce heat and slowly whisk in grits. (Nice and slow to avoid clumps)

Continue whisking until grits become thick.

Remove grits from heat and add 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.

Gently stir cheese into grits.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and remaining milk. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Slowly pour eggs on top of grits and stir gently.

Add green onions.

Then add corn beef hash to the pan and stir gently. I actually used a fork to incorporate the corn beef hash and eggs.

Add remaining cheese on top, place pan in oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

The dish is done when knife/skewer comes out mostly clean.

This dish is delicious and filling. Best of all it incorporates everything I love about breakfast, corn beef hash and grits. Talk about a dish the hits the spot. Hope you like it as much as we did!!