POLENTA MADNESS!

I have a friend from college that I recently reconnected with on Facebook whom I lovingly call Dr. Bob.  He's not actually a Ph.D., but he had a professorial manner and wardrobe even when I met him in his late teens. Tee hee. Anyway....Bob mentioned a fabulous restaurant meal that he had consisting of polenta, andouille sausage, onions and peppers, with a fried egg on top. Inspired by his description, I whipped a fascimile up for our din-din the other night. Very yummy!

There's not much of a "recipe" per se, but I prepared a cup of polenta in two cups whole milk, two cups of buttermilk, a cup of water, and a big pinch of salt, all of which had been brought to a boil. After gradually adding the polenta, I brought it back to a boil, then simmered it for 20-25 minutes, whisking frequently, until completely tender. Then I took it off the heat and added about a cup of freshly-grated romano cheese.

While the polenta was cooking, I also caramelized a couple of large Anaheim peppers (seeded and sliced), one medium red sweet pepper (seeded and sliced), and a medium red onion (peeled and sliced) in a large skillet with two tablespoons each of butter and olive oil. When the peppers and onions were almost tender enough to suit me and had taken on some color, I threw in a couple of tablespoons of minced garlic, and four large links of andouille (sliced) and continued cooking until the sausage was browned. Lastly, I fried some sunny-side up eggs to top things off. Had I been thinking about it, I should have garnished the whole affair with some chopped fresh parsley. Oh well...next time. Still, it was a fairly simple, very tasty supper!

Then for brunch yesterday, I fried the leftover polenta in butter and topped each portion with homemade corn relish, more fried eggs, and bruschetta (my roomie had hers with a giant slice of heirloom tomato instead of the bruschetta). On the side was something I picked up at the farmer's market called shoulder bacon, which may be my new favorite thing, thanks to local producer, Caton Acre Farms. SCRUMPTIOUS!