My mom is a huge fan of yellow cornmeal grits. While she has been visiting these past several weeks, I have found both lunch and supper on the table waiting for me when I come home for lunch and after work. Truly, this has been such a pleasure. But yesterday, she put down the most flavorful small meal at lunchtime.

This meal of yellow cornmeal polenta with Parmesan and topped with stewed zucchini and tomatoes reminded me of a couple of childhood favorites in one.

It reminds me that when I was growing up, breakfast often meant yellow cornmeal grits swimming in melted butter. Today, I love greens on top or a poached egg on top… I have seen red-eye gravy on top. Shrimp and grits are quite common in the Carolinas where my mom is from. We did not eat our grits set up as polenta when I was a child, the way we sometimes do now.

It also reminds me dish my brother and I called “The Squish.” This was a cast iron skillet completely filled with slices of onion, rounds of maybe a dozen yellow, crooked neck and green zucchini squash with a can of Rotel tomatoes, cooked down until thoroughly browned. Then a couple of cups of grated cheddar cheese were spread over the top and the whole thing was placed under the broiler. Ridiculous. Delicious.

But this was a modest, simple meal. I love humble food, vegetables and grains.

She started with:

2 tbsp olive oil

6 zucchini cut into rounds

4 Roma tomatoes, with the skins blanched off

6 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning

a pinch of red pepper

2/3 c. yellow cornmeal grits (please consider organic or non-GMO)

2 cups water

½ cup dry grated Parmesan cheese

She placed the vegetables in a large sauté pan with the oil. She crushed the tomatoes over the pan in her hands. Then she seasoned the whole thing and placed a lid over the top. I would say she cooked this on medium low heat about 20 minutes. Toward the end she asked me to gauge how much liquid was left. If it’s too much, she said, “bring up the heat and leave the lid off.” More than a couple tablespoons of liquid, I guessed, was too much. I did as she asked.

For the grits, she prepared these simply, in a standard fashion. Boil the water and a pinch of salt, and add the cornmeal using a whisk. Keep whisking periodically. If you don’t, you can have undercooked lumps. When the grits have absorbed almost all the liquid, add in the Parmesan cheese. Apply some butter or olive oil to grease a 9×9 inch baking dish. Pour in your grits to let it set up into polenta. You could bake this slightly, or when it is set up, you can slice it and lightly fry the slices. You don’t have to and we did not on this occasion.

This was simply delicious. I always love tomatoes and Parmesan. This is also quite fresh and still filling.

I will really be sad to see my mom go home next week. It has been so nice both having meals ready for me these past weekdays and cooking together on the weekends.