Creamy Pesto Polenta Recipe

In this recipe I brightened a creamy polenta dish with homemade pesto. The pesto is made with parsley, pine nuts and roasted garlic. To ensure fluffy polenta, I incorporated whipped cream. The result is spectacular, almost dessert-like.

This delicious side dish pairs wonderfully with beef steaks. I’ve also served it with a red cabbage coleslaw so the colors pop on the plate. You know the saying: you eat with your eyes first!

Mushroom and Gorgonzola Polenta Recipe

The most common side dishes I serve at home are rice, pasta, bread and potatoes (shameless plug: don't forget to pre-order my Haute Potato cookbook on Amazon!). I think that’s probably the case in most homes. Today, I made something different for a change. I happened to reorganize my pantry early this morning and found lots of containers of corn meal, which I usually use to make corn bread, but also is the main ingredient in polenta. Polenta can serve as an excellent starch, and lends the opportunity to layer on many different flavors. In this particular version, I added morel and baby Bella mushrooms, which give an earthy flavor to the polenta, and gorgonzola for creaminess and a little zing. 

I grilled a few smoked chicken and apple sausages and Tofurky® Italian sausages to complete the meal. You could slice them and add them directly to the polenta as well. Either way, this meal was absolutely delicious!

Sour Cream Cornbread Muffin Recipe

Today, I made cream of tomato soup and decided I would replicate the same flavors in cornbread muffins. I find that cornbread muffins are a great accompaniment when teamed up with a nice bowl of warm soup. I added chopped sun-dried tomatoes and sour cream to the batter as well as small chunks of Comté cheese. The cheese gave a fruity and salty note to the muffins.

I think the addition of sour cream makes for super moist cornbread muffins. Of course, they taste best piping hot right from the oven, but they still taste great the following day.

Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta Recipe

Polenta is a coarse corn meal that, if cooked properly, makes a great side dish. It's definitely a change from mashed potatoes. I had some left-over polenta from last time I made cornbread, so I made this version, flavoring it with a small jar of sun-dried tomatoes and garlic. 

The preparation is similar to making risotto. The polenta cookes in a certain amount of broth until all the liquid is absorbed and there isn't a raw, starchy taste. At the end, I add sour cream for a richer mouth-feel.

Olive Cornbread Recipe

I recently saw on my Facebook page that one of PhamFatale's readers made my jalapeno cornbread, which reminded me that I hadn't made any in a long time. I created a new version using oil-cured black olives and an exquisite extra virgin olive oil from Cloud 9 Orchard.

May Chevallier is a true expert on olive oil and is the owner of a 140-acre ranch in southern Monterey County, where she planted 10, 000 olive trees. She's passionate about her Cloud 9 Orchard EVOO, which has won many prestigious awards. I recently met with May and she educated me about how to discern the quality of olive oil. I learned that too often olive oil is artificially enhanced with chlorophyll for color and synthetic olive flavor. Cloud 9 Orchard is free from any of these adulterations. You can order May's extra virgin olive oil directly from her. You won't be disappointed.