Mushroom & Sausage Ragu with Polenta

By -
Adapted from the latest issue of Cooking Light.

We had some friends over for dinner tonight and managed to throw this together along with a spinach salad with herbed goat cheese, apples and sugared walnuts and chocolate pudding cake for dessert. Did I mention that I made this in my electric pressure cooker b/c my stove blew up yesterday and threw sparks at me whilst blowing every fuse in our house. 3 times. Seriously. That aside, this was really good and I can hardly wait to have leftovers tomorrow.

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 ounces hot Italian sausage
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
S&P to taste
2 cups evaporated milk (or 2 cans plus a little water)
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked polenta
4 ounces goat cheese
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove sausage from casings. Add sausage to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove sausage from pan. (Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat--only necessary if you use turkey sausage--pork sausage will render more than enough fat). Add onion; sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in sausage and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium; simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add S&P to taste.

In a small bowl, add one cup cold water to one cup polenta and set aside. Bring water and remaining water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add polenta and water mixtue, stirring well. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 20 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt and cheese. Serve with sausage mixture. Save room for dessert. Next time I plan to make a vegetarian version of this using eggplant in lieu of sausage. Soyrizo would be a reasonable substitute but I don't think it would be necessary here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think the most impressive thing about this whole story is that you did all that cooking with an exploding stove. Gah.
11:32 AM
Kelly said…
That part really was crazy. An electric pressure cooker really did all the work for me but I still miss my stove. Thankfully the repair person is due here any minute!
5:58 PM
gwen said…
Hey lady -- I'm thinking about making this tomorrow because it sounds awesome. In the second paragraph, though, you say this:

Bring water and remaining water to a boil in a medium saucepan.

Does that just mean "remaining water" -- i.e., 2 cups? Wooo polenta!
10:21 PM
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