Yesterday after work, I decided to make a quick run to Russo's to pick up some supplies for Thanksgiving. I knew it'd be probably be crowded, but I wanted some nice fresh ingredients since I wouldn't be using them until Thursday. So after getting lost and consulting the map a few times, I finally arrived to busy shoppers with full carts. You know it's busy when you get in a traffic jam of grocery store carts.
So the last time I wrote about Russo's, I commented that it was a good idea to arrive with recipes in hand, so you don't get sidetracked and end up buying a bunch of random stuff. But sometimes the ingredients provide the inspiration. So yesterday, I saw some beautiful mushrooms and decided that I was gonna make some creamy polenta with mushrooms. I picked up a handful of chantrelle mushrooms and oyster mushrooms and a bag of polenta.
Here's the bag of polenta. When buying polenta (which is basically Italian cornmeal), you wanna look for stone ground polenta. But this bag didn't have much English on it and I didn't want to buy the instant stuff, so I chose this one.
And here are my mushrooms. Aren't they pretty?
So the great thing about polenta is that it's traditionally a peasants food. So it's super easy to make, with few ingredients, yet it's really filling. Kinda like risotto, a little goes a long way. So i consulted a few recipes and relied on my polenta making experience for this dish.
First, I started the polenta by boiling 3 cups of water and then pouring in 3/4 cups of cornmeal. Ok, actually the recipe on the back of the bag of polenta and all the other recipes I consulted said water. But i wanted a little extra flavor, so I used 1 cup of chicken stock and 2 cups of water. Then I let it cook for 3o minutes, stirring occasionally. Here's the polenta after 10 minutes in the pot. See, it's thickened nicely.
Next, I started to cook my mushrooms with a simple sautee. I cleaned and chopped the mushrooms and chopped up half a shallot. I threw the shallot into a pan with some olive oil and when it was golden, i threw in the mushrooms and a few sprigs of thyme. I let that all cook down until the mushrooms were tender.
And back to the polenta, which has been bubbling away on the other burner. So again, the cool thing about polenta is that it can be really simple, just flavored with some salt, or you can add other ingredients. Before I took the polenta off the heat, I threw in a tiny bit of half and half to make it more creamy. I also tossed in a chunk of butter, some salt and pepper and best of all, a combination of shredded gruyere and pecorino romano cheeses. (see it below) Then i stirred at all up until it was creamy, cheesy and smooth.
I spooned some of the polenta into a bowl and also added on a few spoonfulls of the mushroom sautee. Looks nice huh? And it was all very yummy. I feel like Rachel Ray, having made my 30 minute meal. Except that she pisses me off with her perkiness and EVOO. So if you're every feeling inspired, make this easy polenta and top it with anything yummy you have lying around in the fridge. It makes for a great warm meal, especially on a cold winter's night.
No comments:
Post a Comment