5.16.2013

What I cooked last night: Cheese and Sausage Polenta


It is my pleasure to introduce a new series today. I know—another!

All zero people who read this blog know that my grandmother is in less than perfect health. She lives at home with my parents, whom I am currently visiting, and is something close to confined to her room. She’s quite elderly and frail, and has dementia.

Anyway, I’ve decided that it would be helpful to everyone, and probably pleasurable for her, if I would do some cooking over the summer. And so I intend to. “What I cooked last night” is the new series. It’s like I’m a hipster Instagramming my food, except fuck you, it’s not like that at all!

Anyway, to proceed: Here’s last night’s recipe and my review.


 Basically, it’s a casserole. The bottom layer is a mix of polenta, milk, ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, and provolone, along with some chicken broth and butter.

The middle layer is a sauce made up of ground sausage, onions, mushrooms, garlic, and tomato sauce.

The top layer is a sprinkling of the rest of the polenta and some more cheese.

I found the sauce (predictably) to be terrific, but the polenta base was a bit mushy. That might have been chef’s error, although I followed the recipe exactly (I have a great distaste for frivolous ingredient adding; I measure everything. Cooking is science, guys, do it right).

Were I to make this again, I’d adjust the recipe a little bit and add less milk to the base to firm things up a little bit underneath. I’d also add more cheese; the bottom layer could use a little extra flavor. I might also try a polenta / corn meal mix, just to see if that delivered a better texture.

Taste: 6 / 10
Texture: 3 / 10
Presentation: 6 / 10
Preparation: Easy, 1 hour

Overall: 5 / 10

Not too bad for a first go. I served it to my grandmother with a side of salad, pudding, water, and tea. She didn’t seem to care for any of it. C’est la vie.

This has been What I cooked last night.

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