Southern Style Breakfast

Looking to change up your weekend breakfast? Try this southern style breakfast dish with eggs, andouille sausage, collard greens, cheese and grits. Make a larger batch to share with friends and family for a breakfast or brunch dish. And, no need to platter it - simply serve it from your cast iron pan!

Baked Eggs with Cheese Grits, Greens and Andouille Sausage

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 links Andouille sausage, diced
½ lb greens, such as collards, kale, Swiss chard or mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch sugar
½ lemon, juiced
4 cups water
1 cup quick grits
¼ cup cheddar cheese, grated
¼ cup butter
Splash milk
A few sprigs fresh parsley, chopped
Pinch cayenne
Salt
Black Pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
To prepare the greens, remove the stems from the leaves and mince into very small pieces. Then stack the leaves, roll them into a log and slice thinly (chiffonade). Set all this aside.
In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add the olive oil and andouille sausage. Cook until the sausage browns up a bit and renders some fat, about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside. To the pan, add the minced stems from the greens and cook until they soften, about 5 minutes. Then add the leaves and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the sugar, lemon juice and a splash of water and scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
If using small cast iron skillets to bake the eggs, put them in the oven to preheat. If using ramekins, butter the insides generously and set aside.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and season with salt. Add the grits, reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cheddar, butter, splash of milk, parsley salt and cayenne pepper. Stir well to combine.
Take the hot iron skillets out of the oven and oil generously. Add the grits to the skillets, top with the greens and andouille sausage. Make a slight well in the center and crack the egg into it. Place the skillets back in the oven to set the eggs, about 20 minutes. Alternatively, follow the same procedure with ramekins.

Serve immediately. Serves 4