Southern Eggs Benedict

Name: Southern Eggs Benedict
Prep time: 24 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 24 h 30 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked grits; 4 eggs; 1/2 lb country ham; 1 tablespoon parsley (chopped); 1 garlic clove, minced; 1/2 cup mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 tablespoon creole mustard; 36 small shrimp; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1/2 tablespoon paprika

Editors' Pick

Submitted by PJ991092

"This is a southern take on the classic poached egg breakfast. The biggest change is going from a Hollandaise to a Remoulade which wakes the dish up and adds the surprise of shrimp. This dish requires some prep work the night before to make the grits crispy."

Download

photo by DianaEatingRichly

Ready In:: 24hrs 30mins
Ingredients:: 12
Serves:: 4

ingredients

2 cups cooked grits
4 eggs
¹⁄₂ lb country ham
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
1 garlic clove, minced
¹⁄₂ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon creole mustard
36 small shrimp
¹⁄₂ cup heavy cream
¹⁄₂ tablespoon paprika

directions

The day before, cook the grits according to package directions (usually 4 cups of water to 1 cup of grits) to taste. Allow to cool and then spread onto cookie sheet or something similar and spread out grits so they are about 1" thick. Refrigerate overnight. The idea is to make them stiff and dry them out.
The Morning of, create the Remoulade by combining all ingredients (except grits, ham, eggs) in a bowl. Rinse and thaw shrimp before adding to Remoulade.
Cut grits into 4 sections the size of a piece bread or an English Muffin (a large cookie cutter works perfect). Lightly flour the grits so they will brown and hold together.
Pan fry the grit cakes in butter and oil until slightly brown.
Cut the country ham in a similar fashion to the grits so when you put the ham on the grit "cake" it will have similar proportions.
Poach each egg and plate with grit section on bottom followed by country ham then poached egg.
Pour Remoulade over stack and sprinkle with paprika.

Questions & Replies

Could I used half and half for heavy whipping cream

Snowflake04
What are grits

tincaps53
Do you cook the shrimp at all?

Deneen S.
How about substituting smoked salmon or lox for the ham?

ccairns
Wouls it be okay to make the remoulade sauce the night before?

Suzanne R.

Reviews

This was a really lovely dish. I cut the recipe in half as well and topped each with a single jumbo shrimp. I added a sprinkling of chopped parsley. The dish was really wonderful but a couple changes I would make would be to season the grits with some Creole seasoning, and make sure to salt and pepper the poached egg.

DianaEatingRichly
I've been looking for this recipe for years thanks, it's on.

Randy H.
I am delighted to be the first reviewer of this delicious recipe. The recipe was reduced to 2 servings and made an elegant brunch for DH and me. A couple of changes were made based on ingredients on hand. I did not have country ham but used a small ham steak cut into fourths. Instead of the small shrimp I sauteed a couple of tail on medium shrimp in butter and olive oil and garnished the completed dish. The shrimp were dusted with Cajun seasoning prior to cooking. I used Recipe #118761 to poach the eggs. This is rich but delicious. Made for PAC Fall 2011.

PaulaG