Thursday, February 21, 2008

Another Quick and Easy Dinner

We had a couple of friends over for dinner last week and I served one of my favorite quick suppers: mushroom ragout over polenta with a side of wilted spinach and tomatoes. One of our guests was not a fan of mushrooms but she enjoyed this dish; it's really quite good.

A few changes I made: instead of broiling the polenta I served it soft after stirring in a small amount of parmesan, I used 16 oz of button mushrooms and 8 oz of portobellos, and since I used a few extra ounces of mushrooms I made a little extra sauce by using a bit more tomato paste, water, rosemary and balsamic vinegar. The polenta is a bit labor intensive because it must be stirred constantly so if you don't fancy being stuck in front of the stove top you could buy a log of prepared polenta to slice up and broil.

These dishes' recipes are from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I enjoy the magazine and the PBS show which is on Saturday mornings in Austin. They have a fantastic section every month called "All in One Bag" where a week's worth of menus with the shopping list is provided. The week's meals share ingredients which helps keep the food costs down. This is one example of the All in One Bag. Another bonus is that they try to use seasonal ingredients: good for your food's carbon footprint and your wallet.

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