Polenta Pizza with Sausage

Is anyone else tired of Turkey Day leftovers? I know I am. I could not get myself to eat another turkey sandwich or eat any more reheated side dishes leftover from Thanksgiving. I needed a change of holiday pace and boy do I have a recipe for you. A mouthwatering and satisfying dish that is decidedly the farthest thing from Thanksgiving...Polenta Pizza with Sausage replaces the typical pizza crust with a soft, creamy, cheesy polenta crust topped with a heavenly sausage ragu made with San Marzano tomatoes, sweet Italian sausage, onions and garlic and two cheeses broiled to bubbly perfection. It is absolutely incredible! 

My mom shared this recipe with me after I had it at her house one afternoon. I loved it, so she loaded me up with a ton of leftovers and I literally ate this for breakfast, lunch and dinner the whole next day. It was so delicious! My mom was quick to point out that this recipe is from Chef Michael Symon from The Chew.  She's a huge fan of the show and Chef Symon. All I can say is thank you Chef Symon and thank you mom for sharing it with me.  Trust me, you may never want regular pizza again. Enjoy!

Polenta Pizza with Sausage

Serves 8
slightly adapted recipe by Michael Symon

Polenta Crust 
2 cups Instant Polenta (I used Quick Grits)
7 cups water
salt
1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese (I added 3/4 cup)
2 T butter
salt and pepper (to taste)

In a large saucepan, bring 7 cups of salted water to a boil. Add Polenta or Quick Grits and stir. Heat over medium low heat for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally. 

Add butter, marscarpone and Parmesan-reggiano cheeses to the prepared polenta. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Prepare large sheet pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper)I lined with parchment). Pour prepared Polenta into a large sheet pan and refrigerate until set about 30 minutes or while you prepare the sausage ragu.

 Sausage Ragu
14 oz. package sweet Italian Sausage, casings removed
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1- 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, chopped ( I added the whole can with juice)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
fresh basil  

In a large dutch oven, brown Italian sausage. Add onions and garlic and continue to cook over medium high heat until onions are translucent ~5 minutes. Add San Marzano tomatoes and continue to heat until tomatoes break down and sauce is reduced and thickened. About 45-60 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.


Assemble Pizza: Pour sauce over set polenta crust and top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Heat under the broiler for 7-9 minutes until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. 

Remove from oven, slice and top with fresh basil and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!

Other recipes to try:

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

Pizza Soup 

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Cassoulet

Time. There just isn't enough of it in each day. Days are jam packed with errands to run, calls to make, chores to complete, kids to shuttle around, meals to cook, homework to do; It's the busy work that fills my every waking moment and leaves little time to nurture my soul. Every evening, exhaustion drags me down along with the realization that the things I wanted to do, was filled with things I had to do. I've always had trouble balancing my need to be productive with the things I really want to do. Now that the holidays are upon us, I'm going to hunker down, get back into the kitchen and feed my soul.     
This recipe reminds me that sometimes I have to clear my to do list, slow down, and make time to savor things that are just for me and take time to complete. Who cares if the laundry's not folded...like I do that anyway. 😉 This Cassoulet recipe is so wonderfully comforting with it's complex flavors of savory sausage and pork, creamy beans with a crunchy buttery breadcrumb topping. Clear your schedule and spend a day at home making this work of art!

Cassoulet

Serves 8-10
Slightly adapted recipe by Teri Appleton-Villanueva

Prep Beans
1 lb cannellini beans, rinse and clean
1 T salt

Soak beans overnight and then cook as directed with added salt.  Drain beans, reserving liquid.

Prep Sausages
2 cups water
12 ounces garlic chicken sausage
2 ounces salt pork
2 T vegetable oil
1 med celery rib
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs of thyme

Place water, sausage, salt pork and oil in a dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a quick simmer; cook until water evaporates.Transfer salt pork to cutting board and cool slightly. Meanwhile continue to brown sausages. With kitchen twine, tie together celery, bay leaf, thyme and salt pork together and set aside. When sausages have browned, transfer to cutting board and slice 1 inch thick. Set aside. Do NOT wash dutch oven.

Cook Aromatics
Vegetable oil as needed
12 oz pork shoulder, cut into 1" chunks
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 med carrot, peeled, 1/4 inch dice
2 med cloves garlic, minced
1 T tomato paste

Add oil, if necessary, and pork to the now empty dutch oven and brown pork on all sides. Add onion and carrots, cook, stirring until onion is translucent. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook stirring, 30 seconds. 

Deglaze
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 diced Roma tomatoes
2 to 4 cups chicken stock
fine sea salt and black pepper
Immediately deglaze with wine. Bring to a boil, stir in tomatoes, celery/salt pork bundle, sausages, stock and drained beans. Add some reserved bean liquid enough to cover beans. Simmer soup for about an hour. Skim fat. Remove celery/salt pork bundle and discard. Season with salt and pepper. 

Variation: I like this soup to be thick, so blending about half of the soup makes it thick and chunky. Let the soup cool a bit before blending. Working in batches, pulse the soup in a blender to break up the ingredients into small pieces. Return it to the dutch oven. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and make the breadcrumb topping below.

Gratinee (Brown Top)
1/4 cup packed parsley leaves
3 T unsalted butter, melted
3 large slices high quality white bread
fine sea salt and pepper

Pulse parsley in food processor until minced Transfer to a bowl, wipe out processor. Pulse bread into crumbs. transfer to parsley bowl and drizzle with butter and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.  Top soup with Gratinee and then bake until topping is golden brown about 30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Other recipes to try:

Tortilla Dressing

Parmesan Creamed Onions

Creamed Corn Casserole

Pizza Soup

I'm on a soup kick...I've moved on from Halloween dishes and I'm starting to focus on warm, comforting, fall foods, like soup. Those one pot meals that taste even better the next day or series of days. I made this soup on Sunday and I've had it two more times for lunch.  I ate the last of it today and added leftover rice and a few more morsels of sausage crumbles and it was divine. And here's the best part...its super simple to make. I used what I had in my fridge and freezer but feel free to add different toppings. Have fun adding your own ingredients to this delicious base made with a puree of onions, bell peppers, garlic and tomatoes in chicken broth and tomato paste.
If you like mushroom, chicken and spinach pizza, add those instead of the pepperoni and sausage. If you like veggie pizza, add your favorites veggies as toppings and substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth. Meat lovers pizza, add more meat and substitute the chicken broth with beef broth for a more intensely flavored soup. The sky's the limit. I made some cheesy bread on soft ciabatta with a mixture of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to dunk into the soup which really makes it feel like you are eating pizza, but I'd imagine garlic bread would be pretty darn delicious as well. Enjoy!

Pizza Soup

(Adapted recipe from Vitamix)

Serves 6

2 T olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1 cup bell peppers, diced 
8 Roma Tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic
3 T tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
2 tsp. oregano, dried
2 tsp. basil, dried
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper 
16 slices pepperoni
1 cup Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Fresh basil (garnish)


Add oil to large dutch oven. Saute onion, peppers (I prefer the flavor of red bell peppers in this soup over green bell peppers but I used what I had on hand which was an orange bell pepper but feel free to use any color bell pepper), tomatoes and garlic until onions are soft, about 8-10 minutes. 

Add sauteed vegetables to a blender and add 2 cups chicken stock and tomato paste and puree. Add contents of the blender back to the dutch oven and add the remaining chicken broth, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Heat to a boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce a little. Add pepperoni and sausage and simmer an additional 10 minutes or until heated through. Taste and add more salt, oregano or basil as needed.

Ladle into bowls, top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, fresh basil and some crispy pepperoni. Enjoy!


Optional:
Pepperoni Leaves
I love fall so I decided to make some crispy pepperoni leaves as a garnish to this yummy soup. But, if you don't want to go to the trouble of cutting out leaves, you can make crispy whole pepperoni by putting a few slices on a foil lined cookie sheet and heat in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Longer if you want them crispier. Drain on a paper towel and then garnish your soup. 

Other recipes to try:

Tomato Garlic Soup with Cheese Tortellini

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Short Rib and Bok Choy Soup

Shrimp and Andouille Sausage with Cheesy Grits

There's so much discord in our nation, that I am at a loss of what to write about today. Do I happily write about food and ignore the monster in my room that scares me so much. Do I write about how I'm feeling and open myself up to criticism and personal attacks that seem to be so commonplace when you exercise free speech. I wonder where our manners have gone and our ability to 'agree to disagree'. Civility, decency and wisdom seem to have disappeared from our social discourse. Being unapologetically rude, mean, and ill-informed have become acceptable norms, and based on the results of our last election...celebrated. Social media has made it easy to voice our opinions but even easier to forget decorum; I can say what ever I want and not be responsible if it is taken the wrong way. Hop on the soapbox, spew venomous and personal attacks when someone has a different opinion or view and then disappears into anonymity. Free speech is our right, but I really believe speaking with dignity and respect toward others will get you heard. It's not only what you say, but how you say it. We've forgotten that I think.

What will happen to our moral fabric now that we have a leader who tweets ignorant and divisive rhetoric daily? He fills airspace with deflections, fabrications, and red herrings which are then fact checked and debunked by media outlets. But why isn't he held to account, for real? IS there no real consequence to not being truthful? Why does he still have credibility? What message does it send to our children about honesty? 
Yeah, yeah, I know that's an old fashion notion...that pesky honesty thing. But just like kindness, in my world, it still matters!  But really, what does that do to our collective humanity if the leader of the free world spreads propaganda that we know and can prove is false? I fear it will affect our humanity. Will the lies be tolerated and accepted as we become desensitized to the barrage of injustices and inconsistencies of words to actions? Will we lose our sense of right and wrong? Will we care? I do.

That being said, my fear of the new president is not partisan. I am neither a Democrat or Republican, so please spare me the politics. Obviously, his lack of political experience and knowledge of the Constitution is a legitimate reason to fear him as President. He's been called a misogynist, racist, xenophobe, etc, but those are just symptoms of the real problem with him...his lack of humanity and integrity. This is most troubling because his integrity, or lack of, is what will guide his decisions no matter what job he holds or what affiliations he aligns himself with. Integrity is consistency of character and ultimately how we measure trust in a person. I trust someone when their actions and words match and they are transparent. He is not transparent and speaks with malice to incite fear and hatred, to confuse, to intimidate, to divide, to threaten, to discredit, and to degrade Americans. He is the most un-American President to have ever hold office. He doesn't care about America or Americans and he proves it every time he speaks and pits us against each other. He doesn't want to unify America. He wants us to be fighting each other and blaming each other so we don't notice as he takes our democracy and our freedoms from us. He is dividing us and tearing at the very fabric of what makes America great...its people!  
We must hold him to account for the things he says, for the damage his words inflict and the actions he takes. We must end the partisan arguing and judge him only on the content of his character. Like it or not, he works for us and he needs to answer to us. 

I'm stepping off my soapbox now...I need comfort food.
 

Shrimp and Grits 

Serves 4 (adapted recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva)

Prepare Grits
1 1/2 cups hot chicken stock, divided
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cream
1 garlic clove
1/4 t sea salt
1/4 t. black pepper
3/4 cup stone ground grits (I used yellow cornmeal)
1/4 cup sharp cheddar, grated

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, add 1 cup chicken stock, milk, cream, garlic, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in grits and when the grits begin to bubble, turn the heat down to low and simmer, stirring frequently. Cook for 10-15 minutes until smooth and thick. Cover and set aside. 

When shrimp and sauce is done, reheat over medium heat and add some of the remaining 1/2 cup of the hot chicken stock to thin if necessary and then stir in the cheddar cheese and heat until almost melted.

Andouille Sausage Gravy
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 stalk celery, minced
1/2 pound Andouille sausage, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 T tomato paste
1 pound 16/20 shrimp, peeled, deveined
~3 T parsley, chopped
1/8 t. cayenne pepper (or to taste)
Franks Red Hot Sauce (to taste)

Place oil in a large skillet and saute the onion and celery over medium heat until softened. Add sausage and cook until browned. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. 
Stir in 1 T flour until incorporated with other ingredients. Whisk in chicken stock and tomato paste and when it begins to simmer, lower heat and add shrimp. Cook until shrimp are firm and pink. Season with cayenne pepper and parsley. Spoon grits into hot bowls and ladle the shrimp and andouille gravy over grits. Serve with Franks Red Hot Sauce to taste.

 Other recipes to try:

Easy Crab Cakes with Remoulade

Shrimp with Chili Garlic Cream Sauce

Blackened Shrimp Lettuce Wraps