Polenta topped with a Mushroom, Bacon, Greens Compote

Good morning. On my hunting through the world of food porn I stumbled across the idea to make polenta, which I adore. This is great because I have a ton of cornmeal and recently made corn bread, but managed to forget to use any of the huge bag of yellow corn meal to do so. This means that I've made more of a corn mush than a traditional polenta, the difference being the grind of the meal being fine rather than corse, but I'm still calling it polenta. Because it sounds tastier.

Polenta
Makes way more than I intended for 12 people

Ingredients:
3 cups cornmeal
3 cups cold water
9 cups boiling water
4 1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:
1. Bring larger portion of water and salt to a boil.
2. Mix corn meal and equal amount of cold water together in a bowl, then add to boiling salted water.
3. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Stir frequently to avoid scalding the bottom.
4. Serve immediately or pour into a pan to set.
Optionally: cool in fridge overnight, then cut into cubes and fry in butter or olive oil until golden brown.

Mushroom, Bacon, Greens Compote
Serves 12

Ingredients:
3 bags of sliced cremini mushrooms
1 carton of yellow cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
2 packages of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of spring onions, roughly chopped discarding whites
1 bag of Super Greens
1 cup of marsala wine
2 Tbs cornstarch mixed in 2 Tbs cold water

Preparation:
1. In a very large skillet (or multiple batches for a large skillet) over medium to medium high heat, start cooking bacon pieces until there is some grease in the pan.
2. Add the spring onion and mushrooms. Saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have started to change color.
3. Add the wine and continue cooking until the alcohol has all evaporated (put your face over the pan and inhale through your nose, if you feel a little buzz, the alcohol is still being cooked away).
4. Add the tomatoes and greens, cook until the greens have wilted.
5. Remove all of the solid stuff to serving bowl, reserving the liquid in the pan.
6. Add the cornstarch mixture and stir with a wooden or silicone spoon until the liquid thickens evenly.
7. Mix the solids and the gravy together. Serve with polenta.

Broccoli Beef Over Rice with Chinese Salad

Today was a little hectic because I had to prepare 2 meals due to my being out of town for Thanksgiving, leaving tomorrow morning at 6am. For Tuesday lunch I felt like chinese food, so I looked up a recipe for broccoli beef which I will share with you all. One thing to note is that my sauce had some difficulty thickening because cornstarch is not always cooperative with my agenda, but it should work if you let the bits cool enough and mix in the right proportions.

Also whipped together a chinese inspired salad. This salad would also work really well with shredded chicken or shrimp added to the mix, but since the meal was already pretty meat heavy I decided to skip on the animal bits.


Broccoli Beef
Serves 12

Ingredients:
6 Tbs cornstarch dissolved into 6 Tbs water mixed with 2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup soy sauce
6 Tbs brown sugar
3 tsp minced ginger
3 Tbs cornstarch dissolved into 1 1/2 cups water
3 lbs boneless round steak cut into bite sized pieces
12 cups broccoli florets
1 bunch of spring onions chopped
vegetable oil

Preparation:
1. Dredge the beef chunks in the cornstarch garlic mixture.
2. In a bowl mix together the soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and cornstarch mixture and set aside.
3. In a large pot or wok, heat 1-2 Tbs of vegetable oil over medium heat. Cook the beef until there's not more pink showing. Remove the meat and keep warm.
4. In the same pot/wok, heat 2-3 Tbs of vegetable oil and cook the broccoli and onions until the the broccoli has changed to a darker green, about 4-5 minutes.
5. Return the meat to the pot/wok and add the set aside sauce from earlier.
6. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.
7. Serve over rice.


Chinese Salad
Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 large box of mixed greens
2 cans of mandarine orange slices, drained
2 cans of sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 large handfuls of snow peas with the strings removed
chinese inspired salad dressing (I used Girard's Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing)

Preparation:
1. Dress the mixed greens with the salad dressing, making sure that the dressing is well mixed as it tends to separate easily.
2. Layer the orange, water chestnuts, and snow peas on top of the salad so that the heavy items don't all fall to the bottom.