Polenta with sausage tomato sauce – Feed me!

After a few days of client meetings, complete with hurried lunches over piles of documents and one too many conference room cookies, I wanted nothing more than to eat a home-cooked meal at my leisure over a glass of wine. Sometimes, enough is enough!

As I walked toward the subway, the damp early spring chill inspired me. A chunky pan tomato sauce with sausage, served over … polenta! And a pile of greens on the side. Warming, satisfying comfort food.

By a great stroke of luck, I pass by Grand Central Market on my way to the subway, a small market with a variety of food counters. Not the most frugal of grocery shopping, to be sure, but the quality’s better than most NYC supermarkets. First stop was Ceriello, where I picked up two broccoli rabe and fresh mozzarella sausage, the main attraction in my sauce. Next was Murray’s Cheese, where I picked up a wedge of pecorino romano and (inspired by Bob) some fresh mozzarella balls. On my way out the door, I grabbed a green pepper, some parsley and a bunch of broccolini from the vegetable stand.

Once I got home, this meal took about 40 minutes to put together, from the time I uncorked my bottle of red to the time I sat down to eat. The strong flavors in the sausage gave the otherwise simple tomato sauce some serious oomph, so be sure to choose a sausage you like! The polenta absorbed the flavors of the sauce quickly and was surprisingly filling. I liked the mozzarella balls in the the sauce, but it would have worked well without, too.

I served my polenta with a pile of broccolini sauteed in a bit of olive oil and garlic. Spinach, broccoli rabe or even broccoli would have been excellent, too. And while I’m sure that the meal probably would have been better with real polenta, the instant variety was perfectly acceptable, especially when served with a hearty sauce.

Polenta with sausage tomato sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. sausage (I used broccoli rabe and fresh mozzarella sausage.)
• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, partially drained
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped (divided)
• 1/8 lb. fresh mozzarella
• 1/4 c. polenta (I used instant)
• grated pecorino romano cheese

Directions:

• Parboil the sausages: Place sausages in a skillet and cover with water. Cover skillet and bring to a boil over high heat, then let simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Pierce the skin of the sausages with a knife to release some of the fat while they are simmering. Then drain the water from the skillet and slice the sausage into 1/2 inch slices.
• Prepare your vegetables for the sauce while the sausage is cooking.
• Prepare the sauce: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil. When the olive oil starts to shimmer, add sliced sausage and cook until the sausage begins to brown, about five minutes.  Add the onions, garlic and green peppers and cook until the onions and peppers begin to soften, about five minutes more. Add the tomatoes and 1/2 of the parsley and lower heat to medium. Be sure to scrape the browned sausage from the bottom of the pan! Cook until the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, add mozzarella balls and the remaining parsley.
• Cook the polenta:  Since I was feeling lazy, I cooked up some instant polenta. I toasted it in a drizzle of olive oil until fragrant, then added boiling water per the instructions on the box. The polenta was ready in less than five minutes.
• Serve:  Spoon a generous serving of sauce over your polenta and grate cheese over the top.  Serves two.

Clacked by Molly B.
on Apr 07, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT