Comfort Food

Polenta is something I've only discovered recently, thanks to the cooks in the test kitchen at work. They introduced me to the prepared tubes of polenta that can be sliced and then heated in a variety of ways. That, in a backward way, led me to the creamy polenta I can make with the ordinary cornmeal in my freezer (yes, my freezer, with my different types of flour and butter; it's the only storage space I have).

So Monday night I made creamy polenta (bring 4 cups water to boil, add 1 cup polenta gradually while whisking, stir over heat for 2 minutes, simmer covered over low heat for more than half an hour, stirring occasionally, then add butter, salt, pepper and lots of Parmesan). I also sauteed some bulk turkey sausage and then added sliced garlic (which burned while I wasn't paying attention so I picked it all out and threw it away) and some broccoli. Then we ate the sausage mixture over the polenta.

We have lots of leftover polenta, which has probably hardened up, so I'm going to toss cubes of toasted polenta with roasted red peppers, Parmesan and chopped kalamata olives for dinner tonight. We'll see. I have no idea if it'll work or be good.