Marinated Collard Green Salad with Sausage and Gruyère Grits

Every week, Caroline Wright creates simple, civilized recipes for Food52 that feed four -- for under $20, in under 20 minutes.

Today: Cheesy grits and sausage, with raw collards for lift. 

Collard greens are quickly associated with long cooking times that slowly nudge the greens towards tenderness. However, I made this dish to prove that the bite and flavor of the raw green makes a worthy centerpiece to a quick meal. The result was a bitter cousin to the ubiquitous kale salad, providing the perfect crunch and balance to a bowl of creamy grits and spicy sausage. Pick your favorite cheese to stir into the grits -- mine, for the moment, was Gruyère, though I had an internal debate on whether or not to use the bit of Gouda in my refrigerator at the moment. Either way, you’ll end up with a delicious bowl of warm, wintry fare, with a renewed love for the softer side of collards. 

Marinated Collard Green Salad with Sausage and Gruyère Grits

Serves 4

1 cup grits
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 scallions, whites and greens chopped and separated
1 bunch collard greens, stems discarded and leaves torn into 2-inch pieces
1 cup grated Gruyère

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here. 

As a freelance food writer and cook, I first wrote this style of recipe as a column on my blog, The Wright Recipes, as an excuse to cook good food for my friends in a quick and simple way. 

Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute™ Meals grew into a cookbook that was published by Workman in May 2013. The recipes found here are original, made especially for Food52 to once again celebrate simple food with friends.

Photo by Caroline Wright