Oh my goodness this dish is delicious. It is simple Spring comfort food. Let me tell you how to put together this dish: creamy grits with fontina cheese, crispy leeks, tender asparagus, and a soft poached egg on top…yeah, that’s right.
I started off my putting my trimmed asparagus into boiling water, just for a minute or two and plunging it directly into ice water to stop the cooking. This keeps the asparagus crisp and it holds the vibrant green color. Set this aside on a paper towel.
Next, soft poach your eggs. You can hold eggs on the side to top the dish at the end. It’s such a great way to add protein to a dish as well as texture and a punch of color in the yolk. Let’s just stop and mention how awesome fresh eggs are!
Now, nothing says spring like leeks. I am using the white and light green parts of the leeks, but the dark greens get a rough chop and placed into the stock bag I keep in the freezer.
Leeks can be super dirty and there is nothing worse than finding grit in your dish so be sure to give the leeks a good cleaning. The grit can hide in the layers so be sure to slice the leeks down the middle to separate the layers.
My Leeks go into the pan with some Amish Roll Butter…
and let them cook way down, you want them to cook for long enough to become a crisp addition to the dish.
Next, get those grits going in salted water with a tab of butter as well.
While the grits are cooking cube your fontina cheese. When the grits are fully cooked and creamy add about half of the cubed cheese right into the grits, they will melt right up…cheesy grits!
Now the magic really starts to happen, putting the dish all together. Start with the grits…
sprinkle on the remaining cubed cheese and the crispy leeks
place the asparagus on top,
and finish it with your poached egg.
I said it once before but, oh my goodness this dish is delicious, enjoy!