Meatless Mondays: White Truffle Polenta with Creamy Gourmet Mushrooms

 

Polenta can be served soft like mashed potatoes or spread on a tray, cooled and cut into cakes for frying or grilling.

Darlings!  La Diva is baaaaaa-aaack!  And what a wonderful little holiday I had in Michigan.   I could not have asked for better weather, better hosts and better family and friends to play with. What fun I had! And now it's back to  the ol' grindstone.                   

In a previous post, I promised you a fabulous and elegant Meatless Monday dish, so here it is.  I made this as an appetizer as part of my "Around the World with La Diva Cucina:  Buonasera Supper" cooking series a few weeks back and thought it would make a wonderful meatless main dish served with a fresh salad of mixed greens and summer tomatoes.

 

Savini Truffle products are considered some of the finest on the market.

The menus for the classes were inspired by products sold in Epicure Gourmet Market.  I was intrigued by a jar of white truffle cream and thought about what I could make with it and decided that infusing polenta would make the best use of an expensive product while adding incredibly rich flavor to the dish.

 

 Sorry, darlings, none of these photos in the post today are mine. Unfortunately the dish was served and shoveled into hungry mouths before I even had a chance to photograph them!  However, this photo is very close to what my dish looked like.  Thank you Internets!

White Truffle Polenta with Creamy Gourmet Mushrooms

Serves six as an appetizer or cut into larger cakes for a main dish

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth

4 ounces instant polenta

3 t white truffle cream

12 oz. mixed mushrooms (portabello, cremini, shitake*)

1/2 c cream

1 T butter

Wondra quick mixing flour

Italian parsley, finely minced

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

Heat chicken broth to boiling and while constantly stirring with whisk, slowly add polenta, stirring and making sure there are no lumps.  Reduce heat to medium and continue stirring using a wooden spoon until polenta is cooked, about five minutes.  (BE CAREFUL!  Hot polenta tends to sputter so watch you don't get burned!)

Pour polenta over baking tray lined with parchment paper.  Using a spatula, form a rectangle loaf about an inch thick.  Let cool completely.

Clean mushrooms and slice into bite size pieces.  Heat oil in large saute pan, when hot, add mushrooms and let sit without stirring until brown, a minute or two.  Continue browning.  When cooked, season with salt and pepper, add butter and stir through.  Add cream and cook until slightly reduced, removed from heat.

Using a large clean knife, cut polenta into squares, about 3 inches in width and length (cut into four large pieces if eating as a main.)  Then, cut each piece in half lengthwise to form two thinner cakes from one piece.  Dust each cake with Wondra and shake off excess.

Heat oil in large fry pan.  When hot, add polenta cakes and fry until golden on each side.  Put two cakes on each plate, spoon over mushroom mixture and garnish with parsley.  Serve immediately.

* Do throw away the woodsy stems of the shitake mushroom and be sure to use a variety of mushrooms for more depth of flavor and texture.

RESULT:  Creamy polenta on the inside with a crunchy brown crust on the outside.  The truffle cream flavor goes a long way and adds an earthiness to the polenta.  The meaty mushrooms with the touch of added cream make for a delicious, decadent and filling meatless main meal that is impressive and elegant enough to serve guests.

Darlings, do you have a divine recipe for polenta?  Let La Diva know, I'd love to hear about it! Ciao for now!

If you want to book a FABULOUS PARTY where La Diva will come to your home to cook and entertain for you and your guests, please click HERE to go to my website for more info!

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