In just 40 minutes, you’ll whip up a dish that’s healthy-ish and very good-ish. Cook instant polenta until it’s smoother than a jazz saxophonist, then stir in a cup of Parmesan and some salt. Meanwhile, sauté Shitake mushrooms and thyme in butter, toss in cherry tomatoes until they burst (POP!), and add a splash of wine (sip some if you’re feeling fancy). Spoon this savory mix over the polenta, top with more Parmesan, and voilà! You’ve got a meal that’s damn tasty.
Ingredients
- 1 cup instant polenta
- 1½ cups Parmesan cheese grated, divided
- 1½ tsp salt divided
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter divided
- 8 -12 oz Shitake mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves1 pint cherry tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground
- ½ cup dry white wine
Instructions
- Cook polenta according to package directions. Remove from heat.
- Stir in 1 cup of that cheese and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir until cheese is melted and polenta is a smooth operator. Cover it and set aside.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high.
- Add mushrooms and thyme and cook, stirring, for about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Fling in the tomatoes, pepper, and the remaining one teaspoon of salt.
- Cook until tomatoes burst (POP!).
- Add wine (drink some if it is not cooking wine, ya cheap bastard) and bring to a simmer. Cook until mostly reduced, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to melt.
- Spoon the mushroom and tomato mixture over the polenta and top with the remaining ½ cup of Parm.
- I arranged mine all pretty. You can too. I believe in you.
- EAT IT!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Brian Gerard (Lewandowski) writes books critics call "aggressively adequate"—better than "aggressively terrible" but somehow more concerning. He once traded a MetroCard for a pitchfork on a subway platform and now uses it exclusively for dramatic pointing. He lives on a farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia with three disappointed potted plants, a judgmental pig named Trouble McFussbucket, and a wife who smiles politely at his life choices.
See my Amazon author page and buy my books.
His first manuscript was composed entirely of punctuation marks and confused sketches. He's since published "Not Bukowski" (poems that don't rhyme) and "Slop and Swell from a Festering Mind" (essays so concerning that bookstores check on his well-being). He once spent three hours photographing a rare bird that turned out to be a plastic bag, and he's the only person banned from church bake sales for "weaponized brownies." Inheriting absurdism from Vonnegut and Adams, sprawling narratives from Irving, and weaponized failure from Moore, he writes about conflicted everymen struggling through supernatural chaos.
He has two new, offbeat novels waiting for an agent or a publisher: "Truth Tastes Like Pennies" and "Elliot Nessie."
He remains unconvinced that birds aren't surveillance drones.
More biographic lies...err...info.
See my Amazon author page and buy my books.
His first manuscript was composed entirely of punctuation marks and confused sketches. He's since published "Not Bukowski" (poems that don't rhyme) and "Slop and Swell from a Festering Mind" (essays so concerning that bookstores check on his well-being). He once spent three hours photographing a rare bird that turned out to be a plastic bag, and he's the only person banned from church bake sales for "weaponized brownies." Inheriting absurdism from Vonnegut and Adams, sprawling narratives from Irving, and weaponized failure from Moore, he writes about conflicted everymen struggling through supernatural chaos.
He has two new, offbeat novels waiting for an agent or a publisher: "Truth Tastes Like Pennies" and "Elliot Nessie."
He remains unconvinced that birds aren't surveillance drones.
More biographic lies...err...info.
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