Sunday, January 16, 2011

Italian Sausage with Grilled Cheddar Polenta, and a Giveaway

After posting my vegetarian spaghetti carbonara, now I feel so guilty...Not!...but I should be, for posting sausage of all things, but not just any sausage, this is homemade, by my favorite Italian meat market, Mario's that's been around forever...about 30 years, with the same owners, now the owner's daughter in charge. This is the sausage, hot, and mild, that I bought for New Year's and still had another 2 lbs left over. I invited a friend over for dinner last night, and she was appalled and I could tell just the sound of her voice saying..."sausage?"...and then, silence!

Oh, my! I committed the "Cardinal Sin"...yes, I said "sausage, Italian sausage"...in her mind, since she doesn't eat sausage, thinking I was making these "dinky little breakfast sausages"...or, as she said...is it "Jimmy Dean sausage patties?"...no silly homemade Italian sausage. Enough said, just come on over, and "stop complaining, already!" I recently, or actually the other day, browsing through my followers blogs,

I found a blog, which had the most delicious Hungarian polenta, well in Hungarian, it's called "puliszka", which I thought looked so delicious, and more tempting was the amazing meat stuffed with sauer kraut, and topped with Hungarian bacon. Wow!...just looking at the photo made my cholesterol, go high, but I had to make a polenta dish which I have not made in a few years.
Lucky for me, I had everything on hand, and did not have to buy a thing.
Do check out Gesztenye
which in English mean Chestnuts she also has another blog too, all about truffles, or as she calls them bon-bons.
Another talented, and creative food blogger, from a different country, Hungary, my mother's birth country!

I had some zucchini on hand, red skinned potatoes, onions, garlic, and a couple hot cherry peppers, and fresh rosemary springs in my freezer, which I peeled, and added to the roasted vegetable, in a heavy duty iron skillet, on top of the stove. Very simple, just slice everything thin, and saute in some extra virgin olive oil, about 2Tbsp. and some canola oil, 1Tbsp. The reason I mixed the two, is because the olive oil tends to burn on high heat, so the canola, or vegetable oil tones it down. I also used the same large skillet, to roast the sausages in the oven, on about 425 degrees for about 35 minutes, and after the vegetables were done, I saved it in a casserole dish to keep warm, and added everything together to display on a large platter.
I was hesitant to post the polenta photo, because of the messiness, and unevennes of the grill marks...but just look at my pride-and-beauty, my cast iron grill pan. Would not, and will not change it for any other, except, the outdoor gas grill, of course...and no, not the charcoal grill. I take pride in my cooking and baking wares, and treat them kindly...as in the cast iron grill pan, but before you grill in it, rub it well with vegetable oil, and not cooking spray, and heat it up until it starts to smoke, and lower the temperature till you're ready to grill your meats or vegetable, and in this case the polenta, not just with cheddar cheese, folded in there, but with sliced canned jalapeno peppers, as you can see the green speckles, in the pan, and in the polenta. I didn't even get a chance to chill my polenta, and it was a bit softer for not being refrigerated. Recipe, and the giveaway, which will surprise you, to follow!

Cheddar Polenta
my own recipe

3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup 8 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
3 tablespoon canned sliced jalapenos
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Bring chicken broth to a boil over high heat in a medium size saucepan. Gradually add cornmeal, whisking constantly. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and creamy. Remove from heat, and stir in salt, pepper, olive oil, and fold in the cheese, and jalapenos. Spoon into a cooking sprayed loaf pan and chill in refrigerator, for a couple hours, before slicing to heat up or grilling. It is a nice vegetarian side dish, or by itself, Serves 4.

Now, on to the Giveaway!


To enter the giveaway:

1) Please follow foodandthrift on Twitter...sorry, I don't have an account on Facebook. If you already do so,  please see number 3. If you are doing so for the first time, please let me know that you are now following me on Twitter, so I could add you to the giveaway.

2) Leave a comment on this post! You are encouraged to share a comment about the Matryoshka Dolls, or any other thoughts.

3). If you RT or post on your Twitter page this giveaway post link, you get an additional entry. Please drop me an additional comment on this post saying that you did so.

4) To get an additional chance in the giveaway, become a "follower" of 
 food and thrift find's  blog.

5) Drawing will be done randomly from all comments recorded by Tuesday January 18, 2011, at 11 PM (EST) and one lucky winner will announced.

6) Please note: Shipping only in the US, and Canada. I apologize to my other International friends.

The Matryoshka Dolls are made in Russia, exclusively, they have a gloss finish, and are made of basswood, from linden tree and are hand painted, and varnished. They come in 2 pieces, as in this one, in 4, 5, and up to 8 or nine pieces, all with different hand painted fairy tale story villages, and characters. They retail from about $39.99, to $69.99, up to $89.99, which this one is, being that this is about 17 inches high, and the smaller, about 6 inches high. It is brand new, and obviously someone did not want it, and donated it. I snapped it up for $6.99...honest! I will ship it to a lucky winner, who would be interested in this beautiful set. This is certainly a collectors' item, and one of a kind!

I think you all overlooked my mention of a giveaway in my previous post, from Goodwill, where I took a picture of the beautiful bird perched upon the shoulder of it's owner, and there at the checkout  counter, sitting, waiting to pay for, and getting the "eagle eye" from other customers that distinctively knew what my purchase was...a Matryoshka Doll, otherwise known as, Babushka doll, as well. 




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40 comments:

Wendy said...

This looks so good and homey! My local gourmet grocery (Central Market) makes lots of gourmet artisan sausages in house...so this would be such a great dish to serve up on a chilly Texas night! Thanks for sharing...saving this one!!

Wendy said...

I follow you here, and on Twitter! Those little nesting dolls are so pretty...very colorful!!

Gesztenye receptjei és Bonbon mánia said...

Nagyszerűen néz ki a polentád, puliszkád, nagyon finom lehetett.
Köszi a linket, kedves vagy!:-))

Indonesian In Turkey said...

sausage and cheese.. hmm..This dish definitely will be my hubby fave! Unfortunately I couldn't join ur giveaway prog :(

Pegasuslegend said...

What a great polenta love the pictures too I really need to come down south to take lessons from you! Cute giveaway!

Mateja ^_^ said...

I love polenta! My nonna was a specialist in cooking the most perfect polenta with wild mushroom sauce that my nonno would pick up in the woods. God bless their souls! My nonna had a Matryoshka Dolls that was red and dark blue and would stuck one into another, if I remember correctly there were 5 of them, from a itsy bitsy tiny one to the large one. Ahhhhh, memories! Thank you for sharing with us Elisabeth and your polenta look just rustic and homey and delicious!

Melynda said...

Ahhhh Polenta, I love it and those sausages! Wow, I follow you in my google reader and now on twitter. The dolls are beautiful! Have a great day.

Michael Toa said...

oh yum! What a lovely feast. Everything I love on a platter. Pass me the plate please... :)

GreenGirl said...

i love cheesy-grilled polenta, never tried with cheddar, just with Parmesan.
The dolls are so cute, a great giveaway :)

GreenGirl said...

I follow you on twitter

GreenGirl said...

and Google friends

GreenGirl said...

and just re-tweet it :) and sent you a friend request on FoodBuzz

Swathi said...

Grilled polenta looks delicious. perfect combo. Matroyshka dolls are cute.

MaryMoh said...

A very lovely dish. Those polenta looks so golden and delicious. Thans very much for sharing. MaryMoh at http://www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com

Reeni said...

What an incredibly delicious meal you made! If I had been on the phone I would of said see you in a minute and raced over! The doll is gorgeous! I will pass on entering and leave it for someone who may be interested in or who already collects them.

Sandra said...

Amazing dish..it is mouth watering! Yummmy

Pacheco Patty said...

A unique addition to polenta, I like the jalapeños and the grill pan looks like my favorite grill pan:-)

Angie's Recipes said...

Somehow the dish gives me the feeling of summer and I love it. :-) Love the dolls...so adorable and cute!

scrambledhenfruit said...

Your sausage dish sounds so good- I'd love to find a source of hand-made sausage nearby. Those dolls are so sweet! I have one of them that I bought at a thrift store as well. She would love to have company. :)

scrambledhenfruit said...

I don't have a twitter account, but I do follow your RSS feed. :)

Priya said...

Such a comforting dish, my hubby will definitley love this..beautiful cute looking dolls..

Ildy said...

Szia Elizabeth!
Nagyszerű a blogod, örülök, hogy rám találtál, így megismerhettem a tiédet:)
Isteni lehet a puliszkád az olasz kolbászokkal! Úgy látom, ma lesz mit nézegetnem itt:)
Klasz helyen élsz, egy barátnőm is Floridában telepedett le. Nagyon jól írsz magyarul. Ott születtél?
Szép napot, jó főzőcskézést kívánok neked, gyakran jövök majd hozzád!:)
Ildy

thecountrycook said...

I'm a follower of yours now! I have never tried to grill polenta before. I think I'm going to have to give this a try!
Those dolls are absolutely beautiful. It's a talent that you don't often see anymore and it's nice to see folks are carrying on the tradition!

Blind Date cooking said...

I love your Italian recipes

♥The Sweet Life♥ (Alessandra) said...

Hi! Thanks for your comment. I'm glad my posts are showing up. Grilled polenta looks great! Adorable doll!

Lizzy said...

What gorgeous sausages! And that grilled cheddar polenta sounds incredible!!! What a fun giveaway, Lizzie! I just love nesting dolls~

A Busy Nest said...

What a beautiful thrift store find - I love these dolls!

Foodiva said...

Wow, this is an incredibly fulfilling platter! I love the combination of homemade sausages and polenta. I adore your site and have become your latest follower! Thanks again for your kind words on my site ;-).

Monet said...

Hi sweet friend! The dolls are just beautiful. When my grandmother went to Russia many years ago, she bought me a set, and I still treasure them (although these look much prettier than my own!) Thank you for sharing another great post and recipe. I love the addition of cheese to the polenta! I hope that you have a wonderful Tuesday filled with love and good eating!

Bianka said...

Gyönyörűséges, nagyon guszta. Imádom az összes hozzávalóját

Angellove's Cooking said...

I love your Grilled Cheddar Polenta!!! I definitely should keep that recipe :)

Chef Dennis said...

wow...I don't indulge in pork often,but I would have made an exception for tha plate of culinary delights that you offered up!! I love the cheddar polenta!
Cheers
Dennis

Quay Po Cooks said...

I got a set of Russian dolls. Your polenta looks delicious!

Gina said...

No need to apologize for Italian Sausages in my book, you know how far I have to go to get good ones! I will have to find you on twitter! Have a great day!
-GIna-

nico. said...

I love this polenta; it is an awesome idea! I'll have to bookmark this one for the future :)

Sara & Miki said...

Very appetizing. Everything looks very tasty. Kisses.

Cardamom Hills said...

Delicious is to little a word for that dish....feeling hunger pangs already!! as for the giveaway, ah! we the poor international friends!! =) hehehe!!

Mrs K said...

I love the sound of home made sausage,and so many wonderful vegetables along with polenta,I must say it is such an exciting platter:)I love these russian dolls and I am so glad I am here in time to be included in this giveaway:)

Melynda said...

Hello included this great post on my Wednesday wanderings. Thank you.

Magic of Spice said...

I don't eat meat...but everything does look amazing, and that polenta is fantastic!