Summer Shrimp Pasta

This pasta dish turned out to be one of the best pasta dishes that I have made is a long time.  the balance of flavors was just  right and I was proud to use many items from my back yard...WOOT! (I know, woot is so dated)

Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil for the pasta.  The pasta I used was Barilla Plus curly Q pastas, about half a box.

In a large saute pan I added

1 medium light green zucchini, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
1 medium yellow summer squash, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
2 medium to large tomatoes, rough chopped into 1/2" to 1" chunks (from my garden)
4 large cloves of garlic, sliced thin or roughly chopped  (from my garden)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
a dash of salt

I sauteed this on low covered for about 5 minutes, until the water boiled.

I dumped the pasta into the boiling water and then quickly cleaned about 1 pound of raw shrimp (took about 3 minutes)

In the saute pan I pushed the softened squash tomato mix to one side and place the cleared side over the burner and added about 1/2 cup white wine and let it cook down a little.  Dump the shrimp into the saucy area, and by now the pasta should be just barely al dente.  Scoop the pasta over the shrimp.  once all the pasta is added stir all together, if more liquid is needed add some pasta water.

season with salt and pepper to taste and add fresh oregano  (from my garden), about 1.5 tablespoons.

Cover pot until done, pasta just the way you like it...for me about 2 minutes.

Dish up into a serving bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil and a squeeze of some fresh lemon.

Winter Kale Salad with Squash

I went to a local Deli that I had recently discovered and they had a winter kale salad on the menu that I fell in love with.  Unfortunately, it was a seasonal and short lived item in the menu so I had to recreate my own version and I think mine is even better.

Salad

1 small Butternut squash

1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil)

salt & pepper

1/2 cup 5 grain mix* cooked to package directions

2 cups chopped kale

1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley

reduced fat blue cheese to taste

1/4 cup mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds**

2 tablespoons home made vinaigrette 

Peel the squash and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Add the squash to a saute pan with the butter/oil,  season with salt and pepper, and cook covered over medium heat stirring occasionally until just tender but not mushy and falling apart. 

Clean and chop kale and parsley and toss with vinaigrette.

Layer greens, squash, blue cheese, seeds, and grains in a bowl respectively.  Enjoy 

Vinaigrette

I a small mason jar add 

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon mustard of choice

salt & pepper

Place lid on mason jar and shake up the dressing.

* The 5 grain mix I use has spelt, barley, rice, Kanut, and oats

**I actually used Good Sense Dietary snack mix that has sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, almonds, and raisins. 

  

Asparagus and Morel Tart

Store puff pastry brushed with egg and cream and topped with home grown asparagus, morels, and Parmesan cheese.  This was good but the other one I made like this but with caramelized onion was better.  Yum.

Potatoes and Green Beans

1 pound green beans, trimmed
1 pound young potatoes or 4 large potatoes but into chunks
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 strips thick bacon, cut into chunks
Salt and Pepper
some stock or water


Add Bacon and potatoes to a heated (over med heat) saute pan, season with some salt and pepper.  As the fat renders off of the bacon it should help the potatoes to start to cook and brown.  If browning too fast and potatoes are not getting soft add a little stock or water to pan and cover so that the potatoes will steam.  when the potatoes are almost tender add the green beans and garlic and stir them in, if needed add a little more stock.  Cover and cook until the beans and potatoes are at your desired tenderness.

Served here with Pork in a Tarragon Mustard Sauce.

Garlic Chicken & Broccoli Stir-Fry

Sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic
2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 cup water or chicken stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons stir fry oil or veg oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1.5 pounds chicken cut into pieces

2 heads of broccoli cut into large florets

steam broccoli until bright green but still very crisp

heat  wok to hot and stir fry the chicken in batches small enough so that the chicken does not release so much water that it will not brown.  Cook long enough to just get the chicken cooked.  Once all the chicken put the broccoli chicken and sauce in the wok and stir fry to coat and  heat the chicken and broccoli and the sauce to thicken.

Serve with rice.

Photo will come the next time I make this

Molassas Glazed Carrots

4 medium to large carrots

1/3 cup broth or water

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons molassas

salt

pepper

Peel the carrots. cut the carrots about 1/4 inch this on a bias (at an angle). Add the carrots to a pan over medium high heat with the broth (I used chicken with this batch), cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until the carrots are just short of being cooked. Remove lid and let any liquid cook out. Add in the butter, sugar, molassas and seasoning. Stir to coat the carrots as the butter and sugar melts and remove from pan and enjoy with your meal.

Breaded Mushrooms

I saw this some where in cyberspace, can't remember where but it stuck in my head so I had to try it. Yep, breaded mushrooms. There were really great but one must be very careful not to end up with great balls of grease. I found fresh hot oil at about 1/4 inch worked well (next time I will try a spray of Pam). also the mushrooms should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch too thick and it just does not cook right.

2 or 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick

1 egg

1T milk

1 cup bread crumbs

oil for cooking

salt

beat eggs with milk in a shallow dish for dipping the mushrooms. in another shallow dish put bread crumbs to dip the mushrooms. heat a pan, add oil up to about 1/4 inch, wait for the oil to ripple and place in mushroom slices that have been first dipped in egg mixture and then bread crumbs. Fry mushroom slices on one side until golden and turn and fry other side until golden. remove from pan onto a paper towel and season with salt.

Squash Bread

This is just wonderful bread and it was my 6 year old's idea. One day we had some very ripe bananas and my 6 year old thought it would be a good idea to make banana bread with them. I got online and found a recipe that was simple and easy for a 6 year old to follow.

She did a good job, with a little coaching, and made a good batch of banana bread. As we were eating our fresh warm bread she looks up at me and said this would be so good made with pumpkin. What a great idea so we went to the kitchen the next day and steamed up some sweet potato (it was the closest thing I had to squash or pumpkin in the house that weekend). That sweet potato made some killer bread too.

Since that day, a few months back now, we have worked out our squash break recipe to be something that we find outstanding.

1 to 3 butternut squashes, enough to make 6 cups of puree.

cut the squash into chunks, with skin on, and steam until tender. let cool and the remove the skin from the meat and mush up the squash meat to use in bread.

• 6 cups squash or pumpkin puree (do not used canned stuff, I could tell you stories that would make you want to wash out your mouth with a toilet brush, yes that bad)


• 2/3rd cup butter, melted (I will try to replace half of this with apple butter next time)


• 2 cups brown sugar


• 2 teaspoons vanilla


• 2 eggs


• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger


• 1/8 teaspoon cardamom


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 2 teaspoons baking soda


• 3 cups flour.


• 1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350F

mix flour, spices,baking soda and nuts in a bowl and set aside.

mix the squash, butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well blended. pour in the flour mixture and mix until all the white flour is just combined. pour into 2 oiled (I use cooking spray) loaf pans and bake for 1 hour.

Concord Grapes and Turkey Burgers

I very much love concord grapes and we so happy when I saw them at the store. Being the only one int he house that likes them I was lucky enough not to have to share so I had a little bunch with every meal until they were gone.

This meal was concord grapes with a turkey burger topped with cabbage and of course catchup mustard and relish on a toasted this bun.

Turkey Burgers

1/2 large onion chopped

2 sprays cooking spray

salt

1/4 cup worcheshire sauce

Salt the onions and caramelize in a pan sprayed with cooking spray over low heat. this can take a while but it is well worth it. if the onions get too dry a little water can be added to cook them down and then for the last few moments of browning spray with another spray of cooking spray to help the browning. Once the onions are browned add the worcheshire sauce and let it cook down for about 30 to 60 seconds. Turn off heat and set aside.

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

place the panko in a small bowl and add the milk, let it set so that the bread sucks up the milk.

1 package ground turkey - about 1.5 pounds

salt

pepper

the panko

the onions

In a large bowl add ground turkey. squeeze any extra milk out of the panko and crumble into the bowl with the turkey. mix in the rest of the ingredients.

with a kitchen scale measure out 4 oz patties of turkey mixture. Place the patties into a hot pan over medium heat that had been sprayed with cooking spray. Do not mess with the patties as they cook or they will start to fall apart, just let them cook until you see that the bottom edges are brown and with a good spatula flip the patties with good aim because once they hip the pan you can not move them until they are done.

Cut some cabbage very thin to top the burgers.

If you are wondering why I added milk soaked panko bread crumbs I can tell you. Panko crumbles up evenly into the turkey better then regular and the milk keeps the burger moist. If you were to try to soak regular bread crumbs in mild it would turn into a dough ball and never evenly distribute into the turkey.

Spring Rolls

My first try with spring rolls. They were a little short on flavor and texture being filled with peppers, bean sprouts, minced ginger, radishes Udon noodles (that is what I could find) and some cucumber. I went to White on Rice Couple after to figure out what I could do the fix this and they had tons of ideas, I now have to try those ideas.

Garlic Scape Pesto and Spring Squash

Here I am without my Camera. I don't know what it is but for some reason I do not keep my camera attached to my side anymore. It is not that I don't want to snap at everything that I see I just have not been. Maybe I am too busy talking to the kids about the stuff we see or (which is more the case) I feel up rooted and scatter brained. We have Moved back to Michigan from Mexico in March but we still do not have a place of our own to live in. While I have been staying with my parents and now house sitting for a friend and my dear husband 3 hours away working I just feel discombobulated.

Today my new neighbor and friend to the friend I am house setting for stopped by to pick me up and take me to the local farm market. the Rockford Michigan farm market is really nice, I enjoyed it so (still no camera) and while there I picked up garlic scapes, honey sticks (the kids were with me you know), zucchini & baby summer squash and young potatoes.

The woman that was selling the garlic scapes was giving a garlic scape recipe with ever purchase, I thought that was very nice and thoughtful of her. once I got home I looked at the recipe and did not have but only half of what the recipe called for. It went something like this...9 cut up garlic scapes (she was selling in bunches of 10, so this was good) pecans (hummm what does my friend have...oh look pine nuts (that is pestoy) Parmesan cheese, nope not that but look feta, ok lets try that then olive oil and salt and pepper. I ended up with a bright green gem all made in the vita-mix smoothy (nope my friend does not have a food processor, but the vita-mix worked well)

Garlic Scape Pesto
10 garlic scapes cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup of olive oil
salt
pepper
lemon juice

ok these measurements are approximate because I was just kinda dumping the stuff into the vita-mix but it turned out great.

Zucchini and Summer Squash

5 baby zucchinis
5 baby summer squashes
1T. olive oil
salt

wash the squashes and cut in half. heat a pan, once hot ad 1 tablespoon olive oil place zucchini and summer squash cut side down on hot oil, cook until browned, salt. set aside covers to let them soften just a little.

Cook while wheat spaghetti once done (take some pasta water and set aside) drain and toss pasta with the pesto (if dry add some pasta water) serve with cooked squash

Veggie Burgers with Tiziki - worth 5

I have tried Boca burgers in the past and did not care for them. When I saw veggie burgers at Costco I was hesitant to buy them thinking that they would be like the boca burgers. These veggie burgers are not exactly like the Boca but you have to be very careful when cooking them or they just turn out to be a mushy grainy "patty". While Baking them did turn out nice I found that dry pan frying them over low heat works great, the low heat slowly warms the patty but more importantly it drys the patty out a little then crisps the outside for a really nice textured patty and the flavor of these veggie patties is very nice.

Photoed above was the veggie patty dressed up like a hamburger on a thin bun but I found that a tiziki sauce on the patty with a toasted thin bun and some onion and lettuce is the best.

low fat tiziki

1/4 cut grated cucumber that has been salted and squeezed of excess juice

2 tablespoons fat free plain yogurt (the zippy'er the better)

2 tablespoons fat free sour cream

1 to 2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

mix all together in a bowl and top your veggie burger that was slowly pan fried without oil

thin bun, toasted, thin slice of onion and a leaf of nice crisp romain lettuce.

while the individual ingredients in the tiziki would not add up to any points I still count the tiziki as one point

total for a veggie burger with tiziki and bun is 5

served with a watermelon wedge and 1/2 cup tabbouleh (2 points) and cucumbers

Wheat Germ Pasta with Mushrooms

I picked up some wheat germ pasta at the store, not because I was planning a meal but because it was there and I had never tried it. After thinking about what the pasta might taste like I figured it would go well with onions and mushrooms so that is what I did. In the end the dish tasted ok but it really didn't look very good so it took a lot to get the kids to try it. They picked the pasta out and ate that and left the rest so that tells me to try the past again with another condiment

1 onion diced
1 package mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper
olive oil
wheat germ pasta
chopped parsley

start the pasta cooking in a large pot of salted boiling water
caramelize onion in oil then add the mushrooms and brown them a little, add the peppers and seasoning. add in the wine and cooked pasta with a little pasta water to make a sauce. top with chopped parley

Roasted Cauliflower

For the new year, just like half of the world, I am going to try to eat a healthier diet, exercise more and try to loss a few pounds that have found their way onto my body. So with that said my first post if 2010 is roasted cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower is one of my favorite veggie dishes and I add a little nutrition and flavor punch with diced red peppers and onions.

Preheat oven to 400F

cut a head of cauliflower into little bit size florets.
chop a red bell pepper into a small dice
chop a small onion into a small dice
3 tablespoons olive oil
course sea salt
fresh cracked pepper

place all ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat with oil. Pour the vegetables into a cast iron pan (cast iron gives a better browning) and bake the cauliflower in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until it is browned slightly and tender, be sure to stir the cauliflower ever 10 minutes or so.

By no means is this only way we make cauliflower in our house, my daughter loves hers steamed and one day I make cauliflower with a nice cheese sauce baked in the oven and she took one bit looked up at me with a look on her face and said "mom please don't make this with the uky sauce again" LOL she is such a purest.

It was not Sulfur Soup at all

I enjoy asparagus very much. I like it blanched, plunged into ice water, drained and topped with course salt. I like it roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and then covered with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese, I like it raw and even steamed with butter. But the idea of asparagus soup always turned me off, I thought that it would taste the the harshness that asparagus has from the sulfur particularly when it is over cooked. I imagined a big bowl of green sulfur soup, after all one much cook the daylights out of the asparagus to make soup out of it.

The other day I looked it the fridge to see what I could put together for dinner and I had a kilo of asparagus, some onions that are in desperate need of being used, cream and some left over Asian chicken stock which was had a light and wonderful garlic ginger taste to it. The only conclusion i could come up with was asparagus soup.

Like almost everything I make I figures I would start with caramelized onion because everything and anything will turn out wonderful with nice sweet onion. I figured I would add some richness by cooking the onions in butter.

I cleaned the asparagus and and chopped it into pieces and added it to the onions just before they browned with a little salt and pepper. I reserved some of the tips of the asparagus and blanched them for pretty photos later.

Once I sauteed the asparagus and ions for a few minutes I added the Asian chicken broth and broth, a bay leaf and a little thyme to it all and brought to a boil and cooked for about 30 minutes, until the asparagus was tender.

Once the asparagus was cooked, I removed the bay leaf and blended the soup (in batches) with my blender until smooth.

I place the soup back on the heat and when it came up to a boil I added a half cup of cream and a squeeze of lime juice. Tested for seasoning, had to add a little more salt and enjoyed.

The soup did not have a touch of sulfur taste to it at all it was rich and creamy and simply one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.

Ginger Asparagus Soup~

1 kilo Asparagus
6 cups ginger chicken broth (you can make your own or heat up purchased broth and add 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger)
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons butter
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/2 cup cream
Salt & pepper
juice of 1 lime

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Filling:
1 head bib or iceberg lettuce or any lettuce that will hold up as a wrap
2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 medium carrot
6 medium button mushrooms
1 small zucchini
one can water chestnuts
2-3 green onions
1/4 cut chopped peanuts
peanut oil
sesame oil

Sauce
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1.5 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon pepper flakes, if you like it hotter.

dice the chicken into small (1/8th inch) cubes, place in a bowl and add a few dashes of soy sauce, a tablespoon of corn starch, stir and set aside. cut the carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, and water chestnuts into little cubes and put each in its own little bowl. Cut the green onion into little rounds like you would for any other Asian dish... you know just slice it and set aside.

mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Carefully pull the leaves off the head of lettuce and wash in cold water. dry the lettuce leaves and store in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that cold lettuce is crunchy and the filling will be hot and you looking for the contrast. I think keeping the lettuce very cold and adding the filling just before eating will give the best results.

Place a heavy bottomed pan or wok over high heat for about a minutes add about 2 to 3 tablespoons peanut oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil and let it heat until the oil starts to ripple. Add in half of the chicken quickly stir it around and once it is browned all over remove and set aside in a clean bowl. Repeat with second half of chicken. Add another tablespoon of peanut oil and a tablespoon of sesame oil into the hot empty pan and add the carrots. cook stirring for about a minute then add the mushrooms, cook for another minute to 2 minutes and then add the zucchini and water chestnuts then add in the cooked chicken and sauce and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute or until the sauce thickens a little add the green onion and peanuts and serve.

This dish was a huge hit with the family. it was a little difficult to get the kids to try it because they thought it looked bad. But once they took a bite they could not get enough. Next time I make it I will have to double the batch.

if you would like to keep this vegetarian I think that little cubes of tofu could easily replace the chicken and I do plan to try it that way next week when I make this dish again. I am also thinking celery would be a nice element too.

Homemade Challenge March 09 - Bread

I have followed Ben's Blog, What's Cooking, off and on for some time now and recently he started a Homemade Challenge where each month there is a theme of something that you can make yourself. Month one (February) was homemade cheese. Well I missed the cheese I did manage to get involved in in March Homemade Challenge of making Bread.

At first I wanted to make some flat bread to go with a dish that I wanted to try that my friend Warda posted over at 64 sq ft Kitchen called Tchicha bel Khoubiz and then a few days later Diana Dyer posted her version of Tchicha bel Khoubiz over at 365 days of kale. I had this dish for the first time at a Food blogger get together last summer and enjoyed it very much. Thank you Warda! Please visit Warda's blog for recipe.

I made this dish for lunch on a day that I was making pizza for dinner so I too some of the pizza dough and pressed it out flat and cooked it on my cast iron pan. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of it before it was gone making it hard to post it for Ben's challenge so a few days later I decided to make homemade flour tortillas and those I managed to get a photo of...

the tortillas are easy, here it is

1 cup flour
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
salt

mix dough, knead for 10 minutes. Let rest for 20 minutes. Divide into 6 equal balls. Roll out paper thin. Cook on hot pan for 30 seconds a side. Done!

Poule Au Pot

1 - 3 to 4 pound whole free range chicken

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk pf celery, chopped

1 clove garlic

handful of parsley

2 bay leaves

peppercorns

salt
pepper

1 cup white wine

carrots

potatoes

leeks

turnips

parsnips

season the chicken with salt and pepper. Wrap the chicken in muslin* and place in a large soup pot. place the chopped carrots, celery, onion, garlic and herbs on another piece of muslin and place that in the pot. Add the wind and cover the chicken with cold water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 40 minutes. add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 25 minutes, longer for vegetable if they are not tender yet. Remove the chicken from the pot and let it drain on a rack over a serving dish to save the liquid. Remove the muslin and skin from the chicken and place on a serving platter with the vegetables. Save the broth and left over chicken and vegetables for soup the next day.

* Maybe you already know this but I just found out a few months ago that you can buy muslin dirt cheap at Jo-Anns. They keep it behind the cutting counter so you have to ask for it but they so have it. So if you ar in need of a supply of muslin for your kitchen they have it here.

Garlic Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

This is one of my best stir-fries yet, I have been trying my had at Asian food a lot the last year and a half and I think that I have gotten to the point where I think I am pretty good. I would hot compare mine to any cook from Asia; however.
The biggest thing that I have learned when making a stir-fry is....less is a lot more, don't over do it.

beef and broccoli stir-fry

marinade:
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (optional)
1 chicken breast cut into thin strips

mix 1 teaspoon sesame oil with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a bowl, mix and set aside

1 small head broccoli (steam to crisp tender if you like it a little more done)
1 carrot peeled and cut on diagonal
2 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce (you can used regular)

cut broccoli into florets and steam, set aside
cut carrot, set aside
marinate chicken for 10 minutes
heat wok, add a spoonful of oil mixture to wok cook half the chicken until just white. set aside and repeat with the rest of the chicken reserving the marinade.
put the rest of the oil in the wok add in the carrots, stir, add the broccoli, stir, add the chicken, stir add the marinade and soy sauce, stir until it is done, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. remove stir fry from wok into serving bowl. Server with rice.

Braised Short Ribs & Carrots over Polenta

I came across this recipe while randomly reading recipes online (yes that is what I do for fun) and I though it looked like something I should try. I very much admire and respect Sara Moulton and this was one of her recipes so I Had a pretty good idea that it was going to be good dish; however, I had to put my own flair on it and I think that Sara and I came up with something great.

Braised Short Ribs & Carrots

1.5 pounds pork short ribs, cut into 1" pieces

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 cup red wine, I used some leftover red truck and it was very nice with this.

1 can diced tomatoes. I am not going to say what size can I think any size will work well and any kind of canned tomato such as crushed or while.

1 cup broth or water

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. I love this stuff!

2 to 4 strips orange peel or zest (no white pith) removed from the orange with a vegetable peeler.

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or 1 teaspoon fresh, chopped fine.
1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces

Pat short ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. In a heavy Dutch oven, heat oil over moderately high heat, until hot but not smoking, and brown ribs in batches, transferring with tongs to a large bowl.

Add chopped onions to dutch oven and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine, tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, zest, rosemary, and salt and bring to a boil. Add ribs including any juices that have accumulated in bowl and simmer, covered, 30 minutes.

Add carrots, stirring and pushing down to make sure they are covered by liquid, and simmer, covered, 3 1/2 to 4 hours, or until meat is tender. Transfer meat and carrots with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Reduce braising liquid, if necessary. Return meat and vegetables to Dutch oven and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Serve over a bed of semi soft polenta.

Polenta

3 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup corn meal

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

pinch of pepper

dash of nutmeg

Put water in a sauce pan over medium heat with salt. Once the water is boiling whisk in the cornmeal, whisk vigorously to reduce the chances of getting lumps. Cook over medium-low heat until it starts to thicken about 3 minutes. Add in the milk, butter, Parmesan cheese pepper and nutmeg. Cook for another 2 minutes until thick yet will still soft enough to spread a little when spooned into a plate.