Creamy Polenta with Garden Tomato Sauce

I've been looking for different ways to use the tomatoes and beans from my garden when I found this old recipe - except I didn't plant plum tomatoes this year so had to buy some to make this dish 🤷‍♀️ so I'm still on the lookout for tomato recipes haha. Oh well - this recipe is totally worth having to buy tomatoes! I added meatballs and sausage chunks but think it would taste great meatless, and if you don't want to deal with making polenta the sauce would be great over pasta.

        

Garden Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced, about 1/2 cup
• 1 small celery stalk, trimmed and diced, about 1/2 cup
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, diced
• 18 plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 8 pre-cooked Italian-style chicken sausage, cut into chunks (optional)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Creamy Polenta ingredients:

• 2 cups reduced-fat milk
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups stoneground cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons butter

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, and garlic; cook, stirring, 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and any juice from the bowl. Mash lightly with a wooden spoon. Add oregano and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes, until tomatoes have cooked down and formed a chunky sauce. Add sausage and stir to combine. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, until sausage is heated through. Add cheese and stir well. Remove from heat and keep warm until ready to serve.

             

To make polenta, combine milk and water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Gradually add cornmeal, whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Add butter. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring almost constantly, 25 to 30 minutes, until polenta is thick. Serve topped with warm sauce and chunks of sausage. Serves 4.

recipe by Karen Berman (I ripped this out of a newspaper and it's been in my file forever - I have no idea where it's from!)

                                     

*my notes:

-there was a lot of juice in the tomatoes so it took longer than 20 minutes for it to cook down into a chunky sauce.

-I added 4 chicken sausages and also 16 small frozen meatballs, let them cook in the sauce until warmed thru. We weren't eating this until later so I put it in the fridge and warmed up in the microwave before serving.

-I always have to add additional water when cooking polenta, not sure what I'm doing wrong but every time it is immediately too thick but not cooked yet; I stir in more water in 1/2 cup increments until the polenta is done and the consistency is what I want.

Polenta Parmesan with Spinach and White Beans

I love white beans baked with spaghetti sauce (click here for that recipe), this recipe combines those flavors with polenta and spinach to make a delicious dish that could be either a side dish or a stand alone meat-free dinner option.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tube polenta
• 1 (15 oz.) can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 large handfuls baby spinach leaves
• 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce, divided
• 1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400'. Slice polenta in about 1" thick slices, you want to get about 7 slices. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil and polenta slices. Cook polenta until crisp, about 5 minutes on each side.
2. In a medium sized oven safe pan mix together white beans, 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce and spinach. Top with polenta slices and then top each one with a spoonful of tomato sauce and some shredded cheese. 
3. Bake until heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. 

click here for the original recipe

Cinnamon Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin Polenta

Saw this recipe on BHG and thought it sounded good... yep, it's a keeper! I modified it a little - the original recipe called for grits but after I googled the difference between grits (which I couldn't find in the grocery store) and polenta (which I already have in my cupboard) and found it's just a matter of how coarse the cornmeal is ground I decided it's now "pumpkin polenta". I used bigger pieces of chicken so increased the spices and baking time a bit, made more polenta than called for, and added parmesan in addition to the cheddar cheese (click here for my version). Served with roasted asparagus - delish Sunday Supper.

I forgot to take a picture of the polenta with the
roasted chicken...the chicken basically just looked
like chicken though, you get the idea :)

If you haven't made polenta before, give it a try - it's very easy and quick. You can buy it in a container and measure out the cornmeal to add to liquid, or buy it in a tube ready to slice or add liquid to it if you want it creamy and softer. Great both ways.

a few of the ingredients...