Saturday night, I made polenta.

I had made it once before, and it was like bland porridge. It wasn't until I had it in a restaurant a few months back that I realized just how wonderful polenta actually is. 

I made more than a few modifications to a recipe I found. I turned a sidedish into a main course, and served it with a simple salad to round it out. Here's what I did:

3 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup polenta
1 cup grated parmesan

And I served it with a mushroom and sausage sauce thing on top:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound mushrooms
8 Italian chicken sausages
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
healthy dash of dried thyme
juice from half a lemon
3/4 cup white wine
small handful of chopped parsley

I had some sausages that were already cooked, so I just browned them with the mushrooms. I let the mushrooms just sit in the skillet untouched and really brown. They turned almost golden. Then I added the rest and let it all cook together - parsely at the end. Wow, it was awesome. I would actually cut down on the parm next time - 1 cup was a bit much. Maybe 3/4 or a half. And I would absolutely double if not triple the mushrooms. A half pound was nowhere near enough, and I'm actually going to saute some more tonight to go with the leftovers. I think a shallot would also be nice in this dish. I'll probably add that, too. 

Also, I thought I was whisking enough when I was adding the polenta to the boiling milk and broth, but there were a few clumps when we were eating. Next time, I'll bring the liquid close to a boil, but not quite (it took a very long time for the pot to calm down, even when I turned the heat to low), and I'll whisk like crazy. 

My husband was slightly skeptical, especially after seeing "a porridge-y thing" in a pot, but he was in love after one bite. This will definitely go into my repertoire - a good weeknight dish that took about 20 minutes.