Creamy Polenta with Marinara & Mushrooms

Delicious mushrooms with fresh herbs and garlic, good marinara sauce, and creamy polenta are a match made in heaven.

Time to make: 1 hour | Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup (160 g) fine yellow corn polenta

¾ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon (15 g) unsalted butter

3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan or nutritional yeast

MUSHROOMS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 oz (28 g) dried porcini

1lb (450 g) mushrooms, cleaned and cut into small pieces 

2 shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

¼ cup (60 ml) dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

salt and black pepper

1 cup (240 ml) Marinara sauce

Method

Polenta

1. Bring 3.5 cups of water and salt to a boil in a medium pot.

2. Whisk in polenta, set over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, constantly stirring until the fine polenta gets evenly distributed in the water without continuous stirring. This should take 5 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to low, cover partly and cook, often stirring, until polenta is soft and holds its shape on a spoon, about 20 minutes. Whisk in pepper, butter, and Parmesan when the polenta is done.

While polenta is cooking, let's prepare mushrooms.

1. Start by soaking the dried porcini. Put them into a bowl with 1 cup of boiling water and let stand for 20 minutes. Once soaked, drain well (but keep the liquid), then cut into small pieces.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat in a pan. Add mushrooms and cook, tossing and often stirring, until they sear and begin to sweat about 3 minutes.

3. Reduce heat under mushrooms to medium. Add another tablespoon oil and the shallots and cook, stirring, until just tender, 3 minutes. Add garlic, soaked porcini mushrooms, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook over medium heat until mushrooms are soft, about 5 more minutes.

4. Add wine and a little bit of porcini's soaking water and cook, stirring, until it is no longer visible in the pan. Add parsley, taste and adjust seasoning. Remove from heat.

Serve:

When the polenta is soft, serve it in bowls or onto plates. Make a depression in the middle with the back of a spoon and add a spoonful of hot tomato sauce. Top with a spoonful of mushrooms, sprinkle with Parmesan if desired, and serve.

Notes

POLENTA: There are faster ways o prepare it; follow the packaging instructions.

DRIED PORCINI: Not absolutely necessary, but they add a lot of the flavor.

BUTTER: Can be left out or substituted with plant-based options to make this recipe vegan.

THYME: If you can't get your hands on fresh, feel free to use dried thyme.

Nutrition facts, per serving:

Energy: 416kcal | Carbs: 48 g | Protein: 15 g | Fat: 17 g