Did he eat it?

The name of tonight's meal was "Creamy Polenta with Spicy Sausage Sauce." I found it last night while reading Cooking Light, and thought it might be perfect for John because it involved familar things (tomatoes, onion, sausage) mixed with one unfamiliar-but-not-too-strange thing (polenta).

Here are the ingredients. The recipe also called for fresh basil and garlic, but I had neither and forgot to buy it. The recipe also called for quick-cooking, creamy polenta, but Fresh and Easy had only the precooked kind (seen in the tube below). Polenta is a classic Italian ingredient, and when it is creamy it is like a cross between mashed potatoes and corn bread (which turns out it is a good thing...). When it is precooked it is like a potato pancake crossed with corn bread. Foodies will tell you that tubed polenta comes nowhere near fresh, and that is probably true. It is probably the same comparision between my mom's brownies and a box mix, or my mom's mashed potatoes and the flaky stuff: of course real is better, but you do what's quicker.
First you cook the sausage with onions and olive oil. (I love my food chopper because it makes chopping onions a breeze!)

After some spices, you add 2 cans of diced tomatoes and let it simmer.

While that was cooking, I got the polenta going. You slice it into half inch pieces and can grill it or fry it. I wish I could have grilled it, because it was hard to tell when it was "done."

Such a multitasker... :)

Scooping the polenta into the bottom of the bowl.

Ready for the sauce.

Pouring the sauce.

Voila!

You are supposed to put basil and parmesan on top, but we only had shredded mozzarella.

So, did he eat it?

YES! With big bites even! (You can always tell when he doesn't like something because he eats it as slowly as possible with tiny bites...)

John is, shall we say, a man of few words. Here is a snippet of our dinner conversation...

Me: Do you like it?

Him: Yes.

Me: What would you say about it?

Him: That it's good.

Me: Anything else?

Him: I don't know, it just tastes good.

Reading between the lines (which I am getting good at doing...) I would say that he could take or leave the polenta, and that the sauce would be just as good over noodles. He did say that he liked how it had flavor but it wasn't too strong, so I am thinking this is an approved recipe!

Now myself on the other hand, being a person of MANY words, I would say that it was really tasty and had intricate flavors for being so simple to make. When you taste just the polenta by itself, it tastes like fried corn bread, and you have a hard time imagining it under sauce. Then you taste it together and they mix magically on your tongue in a way that is hard to describe. The polenta melts in your mouth and the sausage has a strong flavor that mixes with the sweet in a surprising way.

Anyway, tonight's dinner was a success, and tomorrow night leftovers will be easy!

PS Last night I wrote about some pretty strong realizations I have been having. I didn't want to "bury the lead" so to speak, by posting a fun-ner entry so soon, but I also didn't want to spend any more time on it. I want to say that I have felt so clearheaded and focused today, and happy with my realizations. I don't want to talk about them anymore, because I want to do them. I might post an update from time to time about specific growth, but mostly I just hope that all of you will see and read and hear these things from me. Wish me luck! (And by wish me luck, I mean pray for me.)