Lunch with my friend Jane today. She ordered polenta with some grilled vegetables on top and it looked delicious! My eldest daughter loves cornmeal mush. I had been going to make kielbasa and couscous for dinner but decided to do a polenta instead and concocted some Polenta with Sausage. Polenta or mush? Differences to the elite, perhaps, but not the cheap cooker!
I adapted a recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook to suit my family’s taste and size. First, I used ordinary cornmeal not coarsely ground cornmeal. I left out the onion (though I would have liked it), used a can of mushrooms instead of fresh, used kielbasa instead of Italian sausage, and started with a jar of store-bought marinara sauce. The cornmeal cooked while the sausage browned and then simmered in the sauce. Put the cornmeal/polenta in 9×9 pan and dotted with some Jack cheese. Baked it until the cheese melted. Cut in squares and served with the sausage and sauce (on top for me, on the side for the kids!). Declared a repeat by the kids. And easily made vegetarian by either just leaving out the sausage or adding some extra roast vegetables I think.
[…] I haven’t done this before but I’d like to take a short break from cooking and post a link to my friend Jane’s Team in Training site. I got to know Jane a few years ago when she came to work for one of my clients. The mutual admiration of border collies led to our friendship. Then she started doing really really long bike rides to raise money for Leukemia research. She does “little 35 miles rides” just to warm up to give you an idea. If you’ve got a generous heart and feel like contributing to help her reach her fundraising goal, let her know I sent you. She’s been a big supporter of CheapCooking since I started. In fact, you can find her Microwave Plum Pudding recipe on the site and read how lunch with her one day inspired my Polenta with Sausage dinner. […]