|
I had made polenta before but it did not come out right. Randy ate it and was happy that I was trying a new dish. I on the other hand knew polenta shouldn’t be crunchy and only ate the sausage. In my attempts to use up some mushrooms I had purchased at the farmer's market a few weeks back and tackle my polenta issues, I came up with this dish. Boy was I surprised at the wonderful flavors I created! There was a nice Smokey flavor of the bacon and then at the end bite there was a nice sweet flavor of the balsamic vinegar. This dish defiantly reminded me of our time in Italy!
This dish looks complex but really it is super easy and just takes about 30 minutes to make. I have a friend who has recently begun to learn how to cook and well it’s not going so hot for him. After getting sick with his Shrimp Alfredo, he has resorted back to the old Golden Arches and Subs. It's getting pretty bad that they know his name when he orders and I am not making that up! So this recipe I dedicate to him. I want to show him that it really isn’t that difficult to make delicious and healthy food.
*Cooks Note* you don’t need to use all this cream! If your calorie conscious you can substitute for light cream or do 1 cup cream to 2 cups water/chicken broth for your polenta. By adding the cream it will give your polenta a more creamy texture. Depending upon the size of your tins, the polenta cakes yield 6 to 8
Equipment
You will need a cup cake pan in order to make the polenta cakes and an Ice Cream Scooper.
Ingredients
2 cups polenta
3 cups of heavy cream
1/4 cup cream (Ragu)
1 pint of portabella mushrooms
3 strips of bacon
1 teaspoon of Pomegranate balsamic vinegar (regular does just fine)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Heat the 3 cups of cream until it begins to simmer. Add the 2 cups of polenta and stir until it absorbs the liquid. Then take your muffin tin and with the ice cream scooper fill the muffin tins to the top and let set. This should take 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Cut the 3 strips of bacon and begin frying them in the pan.
3. While your bacon is rendering, remove the mushroom stems if need be and rough chop them. Once your bacon has rendered as much of the fat as possible add the mushrooms. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes until fork tender. Add salt and Pepper to taste.
4. This step you can do two different ways. First you can heat the oven to 250 and add your polenta cakes to warm them up or secondly you can melt 2 table spoons of butter adding a spring of rosemary and reheat your cakes. Once heated through, take out of muffin tins and plate
5. Add the 1/4c of cream to the pan and stir. This will bring everything together with the consistancy of a chunky ragout.
6. Add the teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, stir and turn off the heat.
7. Assemble and Enjoy!