Mushrooms and Polenta

Some of my favorite ladies came over for dinner tonight.  It was a hot, sunny day in Chicago, so I wanted to spend most of the day out, not cooking up something over-elaborate.  So, using only things I had in my cupboard, I whipped up a little meal of a mushroom-and-onion saute and herbed polenta.  It was simple, quick, and quite delicious (If I do say so myself).

Here's the final product:

Yum, right?  Here's how to make your own.

You'll need:

For the saute:

About 1 lb. mushrooms

1 medium white onion

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

About 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup white wine

Black pepper, to taste

Slice mushrooms and chop onions; set aside.  Cut sun-dried tomatoes into long, narrow strips.

Heat up olive oil in medium pan.  Add garlic and stir until it starts to golden.  Add onion, sauteing until the onion just starts to caramelize.  Add mushrooms and tomatoes, stir well.  Cover with white wine and sprinkle with black pepper.  Let most of the liquid burn off of the mixture while more-or-less constantly stirring.  This should take about 5 minutes on a medium-high heat.  You want the mushrooms to be tender but not mushy.

For the polenta:

1 cup instant polenta

About 1 tbsp. dried basil

3 cups boiling water

About 1 tsp. salt

About 1 tsp. olive oil

Heat up the water to boiling.  Slowly whisk in the polenta and salt, making sure there are no lumps.  After the mixture begins to thicken, add the basil and stir thoroughly.

You can go ahead and serve the polenta now, or let it cool and form it into patties.  You can then lightly fry the patties in olive oil until golden, which is extremely delicious and highly recommended.  To serve, grate a little parmesan cheese over the polenta.

This served four hungry women and took about 40 minutes, start to finish (including chopping).

And what, you might ask, was the sous chef doing through all this?

She also likes her veggies.  Please note the blade of grass sticked out the side of her mouth: You can take the cat out of the country, but not the country out of the cat.