Sausage Polenta Casserole with Mozzarella

First off this is not my own recipe, but one that I found at Simply Recipes which is run by Elise. It's a great food blog and has a lot of good things to try. I highly recommend it. I did alter the recipe a little because I prefer different spices. Now this all started because for Christmas family friends gave my Dad a gift of different kinds of sausage and mustard. This gift stemmed from a Columbus Day Weekend trip to Maine. Anyways, I was looking for recipes to use the sausages with and knew that sausage and polenta often went together. So I started searching and found this recipe by Elise. She mentions in her blog post how her father had found the recipe in an old Sunset Magazine, which is run by the same company as Cooking Light, Southern Living and Heath magazine.
You can find Elise's original recipe here and her recipe for polenta here.

Sausage Polenta Casserole with Mozarella

olive oil
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
a few shakes of dried basil
1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
1 pound Sweet Italian sausage
2 pounds prepared polenta or one recipe for Elise's polenta
1/2 pound of fresh mozzarella

Heat some olive oil in a large, heavy pot (2-3 qt) on medium heat. Add the onion and sausage and cook, stirring frequently until the sausage begins to brown. Add garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring. Add the tomatoes and lower the heat to a simmer and let it cook for 20 minutes or so.
While the sausage is cooking, make the polenta. If you are preparing the polenta from scratch, follow the recipe that Elise provided in her recipe, but as she mentions, leave out the cream cheese. When I made it the polenta ended up sticking to the bottom of the pot, so I would stir frequently. When it is cooked, pour it into a pan or casserole dish that can withstand the heat of the oven broiler.
Cut the polenta into squares (like brownies in a glass pan) and brush the top of the squares with olive oil. Broil the polenta for 10-15 minutes or until they begin to brown on the top. The pan should be about 4 inches from the heating element. When the polenta has finished broiling, pour the sausage and sauce over the polenta and top with mozarella. Return the pan to the oven for 2 minutes until the cheese has browned. Remove from oven and let stand a few minutes since it will be PIPING hot.
Serve6
I made the two parts, polenta and sausage, separate and ahead of time. I just reheated the sausage a bit before I broiled the polenta. I left out the oregano that Elise called for and added basil instead because I prefer it. It turned out really good and delicious!

Fall Food!

So excited that it is finally almost fall, and that it is finally time for delicious fall food! Tonight I made a roast chicken with root veggies with a green salad for dinner, and it totally hit the spot on a chilly fall day. I've tried to make roast chicken several times, and it's definitely trickier than it looks - in my experience, it's either perfectly cooked in spots and dry in others, or perfectly cooked in spots and raw in others. Sadly tonight's was no exception - had a few parts that were too pink to eat - but the majority of it was delicious, flavorful, juicy inside and crispy skin on the outside. The potatoes, carrots and garlic were absolutely perfect too, so all in all, a success.

Ingredients:

• 1 roasting chicken
• 4-5 large potatoes or equivalent in fingerlings (I prefer fingerlings)
• 5 large carrots
• Head of garlic
• 1 Onion
• 1 stick butter
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Garlic flakes or powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes, really, and be prepared for some smoking)
2. Generously butter the roasting pan.
3. Make the herb butter - soften the stick of butter and add thyme, rosemary, garlic flakes/powder, salt and pepper. Mix and stick in the fridge to set up.
4. Scrub and peel carrots, cut into 1-2 inch pieces; and scrub and cut potatoes (just cut fingerlings in half.) Add to buttered roasting pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. 
5. Cut onion into four quarters and add to pan.
6. Peel 12-15 cloves of garlic and add to roasting pan whole.
7. Wash inside and outside of chicken and pat dry.
8. Add half the lemon (in slices), a few more smashed cloves of garlic, some thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, etc. to the cavity of the chicken.
9. Take herb butter and massage the crap out of it into the chicken. Rub on top of skin, and under skin. If there is any left over, dot around on veggies.
10. Roast at 500 degrees for 10 minutes per pound (so a 4.5 lb chicken would be 45 minutes). Stir veggies about halfway through.
11. Again, it will smoke, so move any smoke detectors, etc., and open some windows :-)
12. Yum :-)

The finished product:

Black Bean Enchiladas

Black beans have become one of my favorite foods. Black beans, green pepper, red pepper, corn, olive oil and lemon juice go so well. Black beans, salsa, and cheese in an omelet. YUM! Black beans are just good. No mealiness that is found in other beans. Lots of protein and meatless.

I found this recipe through Prevention magazine, which to me, is a really great resource for fitness and good food recipes that are healthy.

So here are the ingredients:

NOTE: Ingredients for a changed serving size are based on a calculation and are not reviewed by the author or tested. Please also consider scaling up or down cooking containers as needed.

• 4 cloves garlic, minced (yes 4 cloves)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups salsa, divided
• 12 corn tortillas (6" each), warmed according to package directions
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, well drained
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
• 3 cups finely shredded lettuce
• 6 tablespoons fat-free sour cream

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Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a 13" x 9" baking dish with cooking spray. Another recipe that uses a clear Pyrex dish.
2. Put a good sized blob of olive oil in a stove top skillet (the original recipe called for just cooking spray, and that wasn't enough.) Heat over medium-high heat. Cook the garlic, onion, bell pepper, red pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and black pepper for 5 to 7 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
3. Mash the beans and add to the skillet with 3/4 cup of the salsa. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through.
4. Spoon about 1/4 cup of bean mixture onto each tortilla. Roll loosely and place seam side down in the baking dish.
5. Combine the tomatoes and the remaining salsa and pour over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until hot.
6. Divide the lettuce among 6 plates. Top each with 2 enchiladas and 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Serves 6 people. Or four really hungry people perhaps. These were yummy and very filling. I used rounded half teaspoons of all the spices except cumin and it was pretty warm, so if you aren't into spicy you might want to cut the spices. I also used canned tomatoes that had chilies in them because that's all I had, so that might have added to the heat. Make sure you use 6" tortillas. I used 8" ones and I had to squeeze them into the pan. Also, use Paul Newman salsa because it's awesome.

Eating Down East

When you're spending the day on the lawn by the beach with a rolling cooler, what better to do than make beer sundials? This was pretty much the level of cuisine for the week that the Bartrams and the Hotalings spent in Maine, but it was perfect for vacation.

First night picnic in the Hotalings' back yard.

The menu was of Drew's choosing, I believe - barbecued chicken, Three Ingredient Wonder, and squash casserole.

For dessert, lots of gelato. Strawberry Balsamic, Strawberry Limeade, Lemon, Chocolate Bourbon, Espresso Chip, and my personal favorite, Caramel Sea Salt.

The freezer was a bit wonky, so we just had to eat it all in one sitting.

A subsequent bbq - lots of veggies, since we're all adults now.

One of Clare's excellent fruit salads.

More chicken, and a Riesling from Rick's Wine and Spirits.

Em has chosen her dinner.

A brief pause before dessert - Drew and I sat outside with Dad and listened to stories while drinking a rather large bottle of Russell Orchards hard cider.

After the sun set, and all of the turtles and dragons and castles in the clouds went to bed, it was time for berry pie, pound cake, and pumpkin bread. Clearly the decision has been made that paper towels are probably good to keep on hand when we eat.

Dinner at the Bartram's. Can't find the switch for the light above the dining room table, so we went for a romantic atmosphere. Thank heavens for that box of candles that were on the dresser in my room (in a box marked "Colonial Williamsburg," strangely enough.)

Pork tenderloin, dirty mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, really good grainy bread, and some leftover grilled veggies from the night before. Also, note the awesome plates - like many things in our house, they reminded us of our grandmother, who had the same plates. Dad informed us that they came from the Grand Union.

The Hotaling contribution to dessert. A Maine classic.

Mom had made brownies for brownie sundaes, so we each had a brownie and ice cream and half a whoopie pie. And then some people had another half of a whoopie pie (not me!)

On the other side of the cribstone bridge was The Salt Cod Cafe - after having one of their amazing blueberry muffins at the Orr's Island Library book sale, I was interested in one of their lunches. As you can see, Emily and I had a lovely al fresco luncheon.

Iced tea, corn chowder, and a turkey and hummus wrap. I could eat a lunch like this every day.

Find of the trip goes to Em. Macaroni and cheese loaf. No idea what the loaf part is made of.

It wouldn't be vacation without hotdogs! And more Three Ingredient Wonder and squash casserole. There was supposed to be a salad too, but after the gelato incident with the weak freezer, the fridge was vacuumed and cranked up, and started to work too well. After chopping up all of the non-lettuce parts of the salad, we discovered we had a spring-mix-cicle in the crisper!

On the last night, we went to the Cribstone Grill(e?), which was on our side of the bridge. This is someone's lobster being cooked in the hut next door.

Waiting to hear "Rick, party of six!"

A lovely way to end a week in Maine - some of the best breaded haddock I've ever had!

If you're ever in Ipswich...

make sure to visit Riverview Pizza. There isn't really a view of the river (though you can walk out the door and be there in a moment), but there is pizza. And it is excellent. This claim is all the more remarkable because I rarely find a pizza I love. Usually there's too much sauce, or it's too spicy, or the crust is tough, or it's too greasy. But this...oh, this was heaven.

Can't you just tell by Leah's smile this is going to be good pizza? If only they still had the bowling arcade game with the awesome music in the corner...

All Riverview serves is pizza and drinks. No grinders. No salads. All the pizzas are the same size. They didn't have iced tea, so I had a Shirley Temple instead, and Leah had a ginger ale.

The ambiance is everything. Wood paneling, red vinyl booths, lots of awesome old beer signs like this and high quality paintings like the one above Leah's head.

After we ordered our pizza, the place settings arrived. Yep, that's wax paper, metal forks, and plastic knives.

I had a really marvelous chicken and mushroom pizza.

Leah had half extra cheese, half peppers and black olives.

Oh, and then we stuffed ourselves. We'd spent the day exploring in the sun, so a second round of ginger ales was required. The pizza was so well-balanced, and with a lovely sweet sauce...Ipswich may have a bunch of awesome restaurants, but next time I'm there, I don't know how I'll bring myself to go anywhere else!

The First Alto Wedding Cake!

Or the remnants, anyway, because it was so tasty I forgot to take a picture earlier :)

Grilled Pineapple

I don't know where I even saw grilled pineapple. I'd never tried it before, but I'll definitely make it again! I don't know about everyone else, but I love pineapple. When it comes to fruit platters, forget the melon, especially the unripe honeydew, I go straight for the pineapple. It is always so nice and juicy and just the right amount of sweet, unlike canned pineapple which is way to sweet for me. So we were in the hamlet of Amenia today, stopped at Label Shopper, the famous Drugworld and Freshtown (no, we did not get a chance to go into Tractor Supply where they have clothes "for the womens"). Freshtown had pineapples for sale $2.99 each. Nice deal. Even better than the GU Market in Millertown: Town of the Future which has them on sale this week for 3.99. So when Mom and I went into Freshtown for Niagra Heavy Startch, I picked up some pineapple. What made the deal even sweeter was that the cashier charged me $2.00 instead of 2.99. I don't know if it was computer error or if the produce department made the sale sign wrong, but what's done is done.
So, we had planned for steak tonight and I thought it would be best to let me grill the pineapple first before the raw meat went on the grill. I didn't really want my pineapple to taste of beef. So we just fired up the grill and put the pineapple on.
You'll need a nice ripe pineapple. Smell the bottom of the pineapple at the store. If it smells sweet and the rind is turning yellow, you're in good shape. Then, twist the leaves at the top off. I cut right down the middle of the pineapple then cut each half in half. You could cut the pineapple in long pieces or smaller ones, but not too small since you don't want them to fall between the grill grates. Cut out the core and trim off all the rind. I didn't get to crazy and get all of the leftover spiny parts off. I found the more I cut and trimmed the more slippery it became.
Then, mix 3 tablespoons honey, 1-2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (I did some of each) and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper together. After I mixed it all up I just dumped it into the bowl that I had put the prepared pineapple into and tossed it around to get everything coated. Throw it on the grill and grill each side about 4 minutes or until they get nice grill marks on each side. Since I made the dessert before dinner, I wanted to keep them warm, so I just put them in the oven on what our oven calls Warm and Hold, which is just really low heat. When I took them out after dinner they were still warm and juicy and oh so very tastey.

Ninjabread Men

Summery Cherry Cobbler

Last weekend I decided that I wanted to make cobbler since summer finally seems to be appearing, but I didn't go grocery shopping until Monday afternoon, so I decided to hold off until this weekend. With many boys descending on my apartment tonight and tomorrow for Tom's bachelor party, I thought it would be nice to have some baked goods on hand to feed them with, so the cobbler is baking as we speak (write?), and it smells deeeeelicious!!!

I found this recipe in the archives of a food blog I really enjoy, Andrea's Recipes. I made a few small modifications to account for ingredients I don't have around the house, but her recipe is essentially repeated below. I can't wait to taste it and I'll let you all know how it comes out :-)

Ingredients:

Cherry Filling:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart cherries
• 1 tablespoon Triple Sec (the original called for hazelnut: Frangelico or Di Saronno Amaretto)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• scant 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and nutmeg (the original called for allspice)

Biscuit Topping:

• 2 cups White Lily Self-Rising Flour (or for those of us in the north who can't get White Lily Flour *sniff*, 2 cups all purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon baking powder)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 large egg
• cinnamon sugar mixture

Process:

• Preheat the oven to 375° F.
• FILLING: In the saucepan whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Add cherries, liqueur, vanilla, and allspice and melt together over moderate heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes and transfer to the casserole dish.
• BISCUITS: Add the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to the food processor bowl and pulse 3 or 4 times. Add the butter pieces and pulse about 10 times, no more 
  (or do this by hand, cutting the butter into the dried mixture until crumbly, using a fork or a pastry cutter)
   Whisk 3/4 cup whipping cream and egg in a large bowl. Pour the flour mixture into the large bowl and stir just until the dry ingredients are wet. Gently knead the dough in bowl just until it comes together. If you overwork the dough, the biscuits will be tough.
• ASSEMBLE: Use an ice cream scoop to form the biscuits and drop them over the cherries, spacing apart. Brush dough with whipping cream and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar mixture over the dough.
• BAKE: Bake in the preheated oven until the cherries are bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve hot or warm with vanilla ice cream.

Here are a few sexy photos of the final product:

Food Co-Op Exploring

I'm over/up in Albany for the holiday weekend and, after a few email exchanges compiling lists of potential tastiness for the weekend, Sars and I decided to wait to go to the groceria until I arrived. Our Altos Gatherings tend to revolve around food, cooking, snacking, grazing. The two of us came up with a weekend plan balancing real meals and easy munchies for work time and fun times. We made a final shoppin list while Friedrich acclimated to all the fun new places to explore in our hostess' appartment and then we were off. Sars had heard all sorts of good things about a nearby food co-op, so we decided to check it out first and then swing by the Chopper House (read: Price Chopper) to grab the few processed, not-so-good-for-you and consequently not-sold-at-food-co-op items on the list. We discussed Food, Inc. in the car and tried to walk a balance between responsible consuming and not grossing ourselves out so much that we wouldn't be able to eat our krispie treats. [Side note. Sars: "Sooo...that one bag of marshmallows is enough for ONE batch? Let's get twoooo.]

The co-op - Honest Weight Food Co-Op - was just as amazing as the recommendations suggested. Fantastic selection, cheap enough prices to make it do-able without compromising fair trade for things like organic chocolate and real 100% juice, and very user-friendly. The veggies-and-fruit section could have been bigger, but I suspect it will be once we continue through summer. My favorite part, of course, might have been the lovely, delicious range of cheeeeeses. I miss passing through the fancy cheese shop on the way to the train in Philly to spend my rather generous cheese budget (yes, I had a separate line item in my monthly budgeting to keep me in really good dairy products. Pretty sure I spent more on cheese than was decent, but who cares about decent when there's a good cheese in front of you?). Well, we tried some samples and I knew immediately that we would be getting the locally-produced pesto goat cheese spread that I tried. Mmmmmm. I would go back all the time just to keep an eye on their local selection.

I think Sars' favorite part might have been the bulk grains, nuts, flours, etc. area. Huge - and I mean HUGE - variety. As she said as we started walking through it, "Why would you ever BUY granola in a store when you can make it yourself?" We managed to snag some organic, fair-trade dark chocolate chips for our lazy pain au chocolat (along with the ready-to-bake croissants we got at the Chopper House). I also spotted a great giftie in the chocolate section for Rhianyn, as part of the celebration for her passing her drivers' exam: raw, unprocessed cacao beans. !!! I don't know if I've ever actually seen them before; I'm almost scared what she'll do with them, but it'll be fun and adventurous, I'm sure. I *doooo* have that stone mortar and pestle that Victoire made me buy years ago...

It was a lovely, foodie adventure that culminated in lots of great eats (like curried chicken and some carrot & sweet potato chips). I'm sure Sars will become a loyal customer, and perhaps even a co-op member. Now I just need to find a similar place in the "Quiet Corner" of CT...