Creamy Polenta with Sautéed Crimini Mushrooms and Pancetta

This dish is based on one of my favorite gourmet southern dishes. In many of the nice restaurants in the South, you will find a similar dish that involves creamy grits (often baked) served with a white wine reduction sauce and shrimp.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find proper non-instant grits here in New York City. Instead, I had to resort to polenta which was readily available in my market (owned by two Italian brothers).

Grits (also known as hominy) and polenta are essentially the same thing, but polenta is ground more finely. Corn meal also fits into this picture with a ground corn that lies between that of polenta and grits. I’m sure there are some of you food snobs getting upset with me as there is probably more of a distinction than this (for example, the process of preparing the kernels), but for simplicity sake this is the difference.

In my attempt to make more non-seafood dishes (you may notice that my drop-down box for seafood recipes far exceeds that of any other category), I opted to make this meal with cremini mushrooms in lieu of shrimp. Plus I was aiming for a heartier dish so the cremini mushrooms just made sense. To add a nice warm flavor, I included a good portion of pancetta. Slowly my southern dish was transforming into an Italian one (both polenta and pancetta are Italian staples).

To help off-set the heaviness of the cremini mushrooms and pancetta, I made a white wine reduction sauce and added lemon juice. I also seasoned the mushroom/pancetta mixture with thyme, which is a great woodsy yet lemony herb. The combination of all these flavors made for a great meal filled with lots of bold, hearty flavors.

We had this dish as an entrée, but you could also serve it in smaller portions as an appetizer. It is relatively rich so I’d suggest that you compliment this dish with a light appetizer (or entrée, if that applies), such as my Simple Tomato and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese.

So here is the recipe for 3-4 servings. Note that since I was hosting friends, I wasn’t paying too much attention to the amounts of each ingredient that I added. Therefore, the recipe below is really just my best estimate of measurements. In either case, the portions don’t matter too much anyway, so just use this recipe as a guide and go with what seems best to you.

Polenta

• 1 cup Water
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 1 cup Polenta
• 1 cup Milk
• 6 tbsp Butter
• 3 oz. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (do not use the green bottle stuff)
• Salt and pepper

1. In a pot, bring water and chicken stock to a boil.
2. Gradually add polenta and return mixture to a boil stirring frequently.
3. Bring heat down to a low setting and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes. As it is simmering, add ½ cup of milk. Once incorporated, add second ½ cup of milk and stir.
4. Mix in butter and then the parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mushrooms and Pancetta with White Wine Reduction Sauce

• 3 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 large Shallot, chopped
• 6 oz. Pancetta, coarsely chopped
• 1 lb Cremini mushrooms, sliced into ¼ inch wide pieces
• 1 tbsp Fresh thyme (or ½ tbsp dried thyme)
• 3/4 cup White wine
• 1/3 cup Heavy cream
• 2 tbsp Butter
• Juice from ½ lemon (do not use the bottled juice—that’s gross)

1. In a large sauté pan over medium heat add olive oil and chopped shallot. Sauté for a minute.
2. Add pancetta and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the “juices” (code for fat) from the pancetta begin to run.
3. Mix in the mushrooms and thyme, then cover the pan and cook until the mushrooms are cooked through. You will need to mix them periodically.
4. As the mushrooms are cooking, place a separate fry pan over medium high heat. Add white wine and reduce by half. Then add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. As simmering, mix in butter. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.
5. Place portions of polenta into serving dishes. Top with servings of sauce and cap off with mushroom and pancetta mixture. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Enjoy!

Jamie Oliver’s Pan Seared Scallops with Crispy Bacon and Sage Salad

This past weekend my friend Gemma hosted our group of friends at her place for the weekend in honor of our friend, Allison, who is sadly moving to San Francisco. Despite the rain, we made it through a Met’s game at Shea Stadium (well, through the 6th inning—it was pretty cold). Then Gemma surprised us with a nice dinner for the evening—just what we were in the mood for! What a great way to spend some time with a friend who is moving, where we can just eat at our leisure and hang out all night talking.

Since the weekend was in honor of Allison, Gemma asked her to choose the menu. Allison’s choice for the entrée was Jamie Oliver’s Pan Seared Scallops with Crispy Bacon and Sage Salad. Evidently Gemma has made this dish for Allison in the past, and it is her favorite.

After we munched on a selection of olives, Italian cheese, and smoked sausage; dinner was served. I can understand why this dish is Allison’s favorite. There are a lot of flavors layered into the salad that compliment one another very well. The salad is also relatively light for a summer meal, yet has a bold, warm flavor.

To make this dish yourself, the following is the recipe (for 4 servings):

• 12 thin slices of streaky bacon or pancetta
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 leaves of fresh sage per person
• 12 scallops
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 8 heaping tbsp cooked lentils
• 4 large handfuls of green salad leaves
• Olive oil and lemon juice dressing

1. Fry the bacon or pancetta in a small amount of olive oil in a hot pan.
2. When the bacon or pancetta is nearly ready, add the sage. The bacon and sage will cook and crisp up at about the same time.
3. Once they are cooked, take them out of the pan and place them onto some paper towels to drain.
4. Put the pan back on the heat and, when it is very hot, add a little drizzle of oil and fry the seasoned scallops.
5. These will take about a minute each side; the skin will go slightly crisp and golden brown.
6. When both sides of the scallops are cooked, squeeze the lemon juice over the top and give them a stir. This will start to caramelize the outside skin even more.
7. Take the scallops out of the pan and put them into a dish.
8. Using the same pan reheat the lentils.
9. Dress the salad leaves with the olive oil and lemon dressing and divide between 4 plates.
10. Sprinkle the crispy bacon and the crispy sage leaves over the 4 salad plates. Then place the scallops around the salad.
11. When your lentils are hot just sprinkle on top.

Enjoy!

Pancetta and Sage with Linguini Pasta

My friend, Fiona, came over for dinner last night before we headed off to a party celebrating Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan’s publishing deal for their first novel China Dolls (Michelle explains that the book is Sex and the City meets The Joy Luck Club). This was my first time to cook for Fiona, who recently moved to New York from London, so I wanted to make sure I made something that was really good but also easy so that I could still entertain her as I prepared the meal.

I found in my refrigerator the remaining pancetta leftover from making my Pancetta, Bean and Spinach Soup. I also had some sage leftover from another dish I had made earlier in the week. Since I love the pancetta so much, I wanted to use it in a dish that would allow it shine. So the first thing that came to mind was a pasta dish. Perfectly easy!

So here is how I made it (for two servings):

• 2 servings of linguini pasta (See Note 1)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 ½ tbsp butter
• 1/3 lb pancetta, chopped
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 8 fresh sage leaves, sliced
• Fresh parmesan cheese to top (I used Parmigiano Reggiano)

1. In a pot over high heat, fill with water third thirds full. Bring to a boil. Add pasta and salt. Let cook until the pasta is al dente. (Reserve some pasta water for step 3!)
2. As pasta is cooking, in a small omelet pan over medium low heat add butter. Once melted, add pancetta, shallot, and sage. Cook until pancetta is nice and juicy.
3. From the pasta pot, take about 1/3 cup of the pasta water and mix it into the sauce. Turn heat up to medium. Let it cook down until the sauce has a good, slightly thick consistency (like a gravy consistency). See picture.
4. When pasta is finished cooking, drain it and add to serving bowls. Do not rinse the pasta—you want the starch on the pasta surface because this helps the sauce stick to it. Add sauce on top of pasta. (I prefer adding the sauce to the top of the individual servings because if I mixed it with the pasta first, all the pancetta would just fall to the bottom.)
5. Top with crumbled parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Notes:

1. As you can see from the picture, I used whole wheat linguini pasta. I chose it because I am trying to be healthier, but it also has a great flavor that I thought would compliment the strong pancetta paste. Although traditional pasta will also work well, I do think the pancetta and whole wheat pasta make for a good combination of flavors.

Pancetta, Bean and Spinach Soup

A friend at work asked me to re-create a pancetta bean soup she loves that is served at a restaurant across the street from the office. She described the soup to me and this is what I came up with. I have not actually tasted the restaurant’s soup myself, so I brought a sampling into work today and I received approval!

I also served this soup last night to my friends who came over to watch the Oscars with me, and they loved it. So this hearty soup is definitely a winner, and better yet, it is also really easy to make! I especially love the pancetta in it, which I think is such a treat.

What exactly is pancetta? In sum, pancetta is Italian bacon. Unlike American bacon, it is not smoked. Instead, pancetta is pork belly that has been cured with salt and spices for about three months. Also, unlike American bacon, pancetta comes in the form of a very large sausage.

So are you now ready to make this really yummy soup? Here is what you need (for 5 servings):

• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 4 small onions, diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 celery sticks, chopped
• 2/3 lb pancetta
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tsp fresh thyme
• 4 cans (19 oz.) of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 4 handfuls of fresh spinach, cooked (See note 1)
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large stock pot or sauté pan (about 5 qt.) over medium heat, add olive oil.
2. Just start dicing the onion and adding it into the pot as you go. Continue with the rest of the ingredients—cutting, as needed, and adding as you go down the list—up through the thyme. Be sure to stir frequently.
3. Once the onion and celery become translucent, add the beans. Let cook for a few minutes until the beans are warmed.
4. Add the chicken broth and turn the heat up to medium high.
5. Once the broth is heated, discard the bay leaf and then ladle the soup into a food processor and puree fully. This will likely need to be completed in batches and transferred to a second container. It took me three batches in my 11 cup food processor. (See note 2)
6. Mix in spinach.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Also go to Sweetnicks where on Tuesday March 14 this soup will be posted for the weekly food blogging event! Every Tuesday, food bloggers who made a recipe that includes an ARF (Antioxidant Rich Food), fruit, veggie or any combination of the three can be included in Sweetnicks' ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday evening round-up.


Notes:

1. I simply cooked my spinach by placing it in a bowl, drizzling it with a little water, covering the bowl with saran wrap, and putting it in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. If you do not have a microwave, then just sauté it with some olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Avoid using frozen spinach because it tends to be chopped and will look messy in your beautiful soup.
2. Don’t have a food processor? Then just skip this step. The soup will also be great without being pureed. Note that if you do want to puree it, you really do need a food processor. I think it is the only tool that will appropriately puree the pancetta (though I could be underestimating the power of a blender?).