All posts filed under: polenta

Valentine’s Day Shrimp and Grits with Broccoli Rabe and Pancetta

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Psst…!  I don’t wish to alarm you, but Valentine’s Day is right around the corner!  Now, before you panic and grab your phone to try and make a dinner reservation, allow me give you a better option:  a totally fussy, outright gourmet restaurant-worthy dinner lovingly prepared in your own kitchen!  I don’t know about you, but I think that a home-cooked dinner beats going out to an overpriced, crowded restaurant any day!  First and foremost, I will warn you that this recipe will take some extra time and a few steps.  You will dirty not one, but a few pots and pans. After you’re done, your kitchen will likely look like a tornado hit it, and for this, I apologize. But, this is a special meal, and I promise you, it will be so delicious, your sweetie will happily volunteer to do the dishes for you!  Plus, no long wait times, overwhelmed servers and outrageously priced prix fixe menus! I think it’s a win-win! This recipe is a take on a traditional Southern classic – shrimp …

Baked Eggs Over Polenta with Prosciutto

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Being born and raised in the South, a staple weekend breakfast in our house often consisted of eggs, bacon and grits; or, eggs, grits and country ham with red-eye gravy; or perhaps, eggs, sausage and grits.  Perhaps we would switch things up a bit and have fried fish and grits.  You’re probably beginning to notice a pattern here!  I’ve been living in the Southwest for 25 years, and what makes me sad is that grits are always hard, if not impossible, to find.  I can usually find the packages of instant grits, but they just aren’t the same and besides, that’s not the way Momma made them!  So, I’ve adapted, and instead of the white, coarse-ground grits of my youth, I now simply use golden polenta, which is almost exactly the same.  Both grits and polenta are made of ground corn, with the difference being that grits are made from ground alkali-treated hominy.   I know I’ve told you how much I love eggs and in this dish, the eggs are gently baked on top …

Spring has Sprung! Polenta with Asparagus and Greens

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This week we said an official good-bye to Winter and hello to my favorite season, SPRING!  Now, I understand that half of the country is still feeling the death throes of Old Man Winter, but we in Southern Nevada have had temperatures hovering in the 80s and 90s.  This is crazy weather and it’s not normal to be this hot so soon, but after an unusually chilly winter, I’ll take it.  Of course, heat this early in March does not bode well for us when July rears its head… So, back to Spring!  I was browsing the internet looking for some cooking inspiration and came across a photograph of a beautiful polenta and asparagus dish served at AOC restaurant in Los Angeles.  I’ve never eaten at this restaurant, but the photograph intrigued me so much that I had to recreate it at home.  You see, it combined two ingredients that just scream Spring for me:  asparagus and six-minute eggs.  Now, six-minute eggs have flummoxed me in the past because I’ve never been able to peel …