Italian Sausage and Sauce Over Polenta! Bella, Bella, Bella!

Like Italian sausage?  Don’t like it?  Doesn’t matter.  You’ve never had Italian sausage like this because you’re going to make it yourself, then you’re going to serve it in a homemade sauce over polenta. When you taste it, you’ll be asking yourself…why didn’t anybody tell me about this 30 minute recipe before?

Simple answer.  It’s my recipe and this is the first time anybody’s ever seen it.  Lucky you.  A charter member of my very exclusive club.

Enough babbling.  Let’s get started on Italian Sausage and Sauce Over Polenta:

For the sausage:

1 lb mixed ground beef and pork  (use all pork if you must, but either way for goodness sakes, buy fresh ground, pure meat, without growth hormones and antibiotics)

2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar (or use regular vinegar and 1-2 level teaspoons sugar)

1 heaping teaspoon each of: onion powder, garlic powder, basil, oregano, thyme

1 heaping Tablespoon paprika

1 Tablespoon fennel seed

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

salt and pepper

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Form into patties small enough to fit easily in the middle of your palm. (about 2 ½ inches wide)

Put the patties in a large frying pan and cook on medium heat until just barely browned. Remove them from the pan.  Don’t worry if they’re not cooked through.  You’ll cook them some more in the sauce.

For the sauce:

6 good sized very ripe Roma tomatoes, cored and chopped (Juice and all.  I buy Romas and let them sit a few days to truly ripen)

1 medium onion diced (I used 3 shallots)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 scant Cup dry white wine

salt and pepper

Use the same large frying pan you cooked the sausage in.  Medium heat. Add a little olive oil. Put in the onion and garlic and stir for 2 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking on medium heat until onions are just soft.  Add the wine. Use your stirring tool to scrape the browned sausage bits off the bottom of the pan.  Allow the wine to reduce a little.

Add the sausage patties and mix them together with the sauce.  Cover and cook on medium to low heat until the vegetables are very soft. Stir frequently.  You want the vegetables to cook in their own juices and meld with the sausage flavors.

When the sauce is soft, take the sausage and sauce off the heat, set the pan aside and cover.

For the Polenta:

6 Cups of lightly salted boiling water

1 ½ Cups cornmeal

half a stick of butter

more salt to taste.

Boil the salted water in a large saucepan, and stir in a cup and a half of corn meal.  Slow pouring keeps the corn meal from lumping. Cook until the polenta is slightly thickened.  Whisk to stir out any lumps.  If the polenta gets too thick, add a bit more water.  You want it creamy, like oatmeal, not set like pudding.

Serve the polenta in individual, shallow bowls and ladle the sausage and sauce over the top.

A wine suggestion:  Any mellow Primitivo.  If you look up Primitvo, you’ll see something about Zinfandel.  Don’t pay any attention.  Primitivo is only a cousin, and a much darker, richer cousin, with mountains of flavor and a rounded finish.

When you serve this dish, you’re going to get cheers from the slightly inebriated crowd!

As a European traveler, I’ve come to recognize, when you say French or Italian, you’ve just said DELICIOUS!

Stroud’s Middle Eastern Damn Sure Better Like It Vegetable Stew

Stroud’s Middle Eastern Damn Sure Better Like It Vegetable Stew

And by middle eastern, I’m talking about the middle part of the eastern United States of bygod America!

But, I must warn you, especially those timid folk who live and die by teaspoon and cup measurements, while I give you the recipe in detail, I really use the TLAR method….That Looks About Right.

And I also admonish those picky eaters who tell the world what they will and will not eat….well, you know who you are and why I find you tiresome.

But enough idle banter that causes all but my faithful readers to shudder.

I’ve found with a very short prep time and only mildly longer cooking time, that a delicious 30 minute, exquisite meal is possible.  So put down that cell phone, forget about ordering take-away and let’s get cookin’!

Stroud’s Vegetable Stew (And Accompanying Salad)

Canola or any other neutral oil, a few splashes in a heated stew pot w/lid

A medium sized sweet onion, halved and sliced thinly

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

3 small zucchinis, sliced 

2 yellow squash sliced

4 small carrots sliced

A palm full of dried cranberries (adds color and flavor)

Juice of one small lime

4 cups vegetable broth (I used four cups of water and 3 cubes of dried broth)

1 heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon, cumin, coriander or more to taste

Red pepper flakes to taste (I used a good shake or two)

Salt and pepper

Grated cheese for dressing the stew

Put all the sliced vegetables in the hot oil and stir until they just begin to wilt.  Don’t let them brown.

Add the vegetable broth and seasonings.

Toss in the Cranberries.

Cover the pot and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so.

Serve in bowls and sprinkle with grated cheese.  I used a Mexican white cheese, but take the initiative and add any cheese you want!  Don’t be shy!  You can do it!

That’s it for the stew.  Now let’s make the very simple Tomato-Avocado Salad.

Chop a tomato or two, removing the seeds.

Peel and chop an avocado – I added ‘peel’ for my few faithful readers who frequently put on their shoes and then their socks.

Add to the chopped tomatoes an avocado: a few shakes of Herbs de Provence, a tablespoon or more of sesame oil, and olive oil, and a few shakes of salt and pepper.  Squeeze on a half a lime.  Sprinkle on roasted sesame seeds. (Already roasted available at Asian markets.)

Congratulations!  You have created a masterpiece of a meal.  The only finishing touch you need is a snifter of brandy, as you sit back and pat your stomach.

Stroud’s Middle Eastern Damn Sure Better Like It Vegetable Stew!