Polenta!

I’m always looking for cheap and nutritious options for dinner these days.  Quick is good too.  Combine all three features and you have me humming in the kitchen. 

I want to share with you my new discovery – cheap, nutritious and quick – Polenta!

I found this recipe in a cookbook that I received as a Christmas gift in 2010.  I forgot about the book, put it on the shelf and never opened it until last week.  A hidden treasure on my bookshelf, The Best Simple Recipes from America’s Test Kitchen, touts the claim, “More than 200 flavorful, foolproof recipes that cook in 30 minutes or less.”  I’ve only made four, so far, and they have all been amazing, but the most versatile and interesting one was the recipe for “Polenta with Mushroom Sauce.”

We had this recipe as a main course the first night with a green salad on the side.  I am allergic to dairy products, so I had to substitute the heavy cream in the recipe with a fantastic all natural product called, Mimiccreme. The ingredients in Mimiccreme are:  purified water, nut blend (almonds & cashews), dipotassium phosphate, natural flavors, rice starch. I use it in all recipes that call for milk or cream and no one can tell the difference.

I had never used porcini mushrooms in a recipe and was quite surprised at the heavy earthy smell they emitted. Besides the fact that they are ugly as hell, the smell was so strong – like dirt and fish and old socks - that I almost didn’t use them because I thought there was something wrong with them.  After I soaked them in water,  the old socks smell was gone and I was left with light scents of musky and salty, combined with the piney fragrance from the fresh rosemary, I thought, “If nothing else, this is going to be interesting.”

The first few bites made everyone around the table pause.  The flavors were so different than anything we had ever had. The porcini mushrooms added a delicate salty earthiness – a kick – to the softer creamy texture of the white mushrooms.  The polenta had a buttery flavor, slightly grainy, and when eaten together with the mushroom sauce, was perfectly divine.

These vegetarian meals always cause my son to ask, “Is this it? No meat?” This particular night he said he was going to order some Chinese food after dinner because he didn’t think this meal would be enough for him.  But everyone filled up enough and there were even some leftovers.

The next night I fried some chicken cutlets and, instead of cooking a potato or rice, I cut up the leftover polenta with mushroom sauce into small cubes and added some additional polenta.  I sliced a small to medium sized onion, added about 3 garlic cloves, a little olive oil and cooked them in the oven in a 9x12 Pyrex baking dish for about 10 minutes.  I then added the cubed leftover polenta from the night before, plus a little more polenta, with some chicken broth (about 1/3 cup) for moisture, so the polenta wouldn’t stick. I baked the polenta cubes in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350° and the result was a wonderful side dish with barely any prep work.

Polenta is a lot like tofu, that other cheap, nutritious and quick food that is so versatile.  Like tofu, polenta takes on the flavors of the foods and spices around it. One afternoon, when my sweet tooth was acting up for something tasty, I reached into the refrigerator, sliced off a piece of polenta and microwaved it for 30 seconds.  I topped it with maple syrup and chopped walnuts and found a new quick substitute for a slice of cake in the afternoon. 

This morning I fried a slice of polenta in butter.  This gave it a slightly crispy outer crust with a soft warm inside.  I topped it with maple syrup and walnuts, a few strips of bacon on the side, and voilà! Polenta for breakfast.

Okay, okay, let’s get started… Here is the recipe for Polenta with Mushroom Sauce:

¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and patted dry (don’t be scared by the looks or smell of these things.  They are downright ugly and stinky!)

¾ cup water

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped fine

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

1 pound white mushrooms, sliced thin

1/3-cup sweet Marsala

¾ cup heavy cream (or mimiccreme, as noted above)

Salt and pepper

1 (18 ounce) tube polenta, cut into 8 rounds

I could not find prepared tube polenta in my grocery store, so I bought a bag of dry instant polenta and made it myself.  It took about 3 minutes to mix up.  I put the cooked polenta into a bread loaf pan and let it cool and harden up. Then I sliced 4 pieces about 1” thick and cut them in half to simulate the 8 rounds.  That left me with extra polenta that I found other uses for, as explained above, during the week.

1.         Combine porcini and water in bowl and microwave, covered, until porcini are soft, about 1 minute.  Line fine-mesh strainer with paper towel and strain porcini, reserving liquid.  Chop porcini fine and set aside.

2.        Heat 2 tablespoons oil in saucepan over medium heat until shimmering.  Cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and rosemary and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add white mushrooms and chopped porcini and cook over medium-high heat until browned, about 8 minutes.  Stir in Marsala and reserved liquid and simmer until pan is nearly dry, about 5 minutes.  Add cream and simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

3.        Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Cook polenta rounds until well-browned and crisp, 2-3 minutes per side.  Serve with mushroom sauce.