Fried polenta with simmered beef sauce

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Recipe simmered beef sauce
1 Recipe fried polenta
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons Butter
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Carrot, scraped and finely chopped
1 Stalk celery, finely chopped
½ cup Parsley, minced
⅛ teaspoon Crushed dried rosemary
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ pounds Mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 pounds Lean beef (round or chuck), diced (not ground)
½ cup Dry marsala wine, or red wine
1⅓ cup Strong beef stock, boiling
Salt and black pepper to taste
Grated rind from 1/2 lemon
1 recipe Basic Polenta (above)

Directions

SIMMERED BEEF SAUCE

In the bottom of a small Dutch oven, melt the butter and add the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, rosemary, garlic, and mushrooms. Simmer several minutes, stirring frequently until the vegetables are soft, but not brown.

Add the diced meat to the pan and stir until it has lost all pinkness. Add the Marsala, boiling stock, salt, Pepper, and lemon rind and bring the sauce to a good simmer. Cover tightly and place in a 275 degree F oven for about 4 to 5 hours. The meat should be broken down and the sauce very thick. Serve hot.

To serve Place slices of fried polenta on heated plates and ladle some of the meat sauce over them. Sprinkle with grated cheese and pass extra cheese at the table.

Basic Polenta

6½ cups water 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups coarse-ground yellow corn meal, or polenta 3 tablespoons butter, to 4 Bring the water and salt to a boil in a large, heavy kettle. Pour in the corn meal very, very slowly, stirring constantly. You should be able to see the individual grains of the meal or you're pouring too fast. A slow pour prevents the mixure from being lumpy. Simmer gently, stirring almost continually for around 30 minutes. The polenta is done when it pulls away from the pan. (CAUTION: I wear long mits while stirring....the mixture tends to bubble and SPLAT you with hot stuff. One thing I do, is only cook and stir for maybe 10 minutes, then I turn way down, cover and let it steam itself. Who wants to stand there stirring for 30 minutes??) Fried Polenta

Pour the hot cooked polenta into a buttered loaf pan and cool. Turn out onto a board and cut with a taughtly stretched string into ½ inch (12 mm) slices. Brush slices lightly with butter. Fry in Sizzling butter for several minutes on each side, until crisp and lightly brown. Serve hot with more butter and grated cheese.

Typos by Brenda Adams and prepped by MC_Buster; mc post 4/14/97 Recipe by: The Best of Ethnic Home Cooking, Mary Poulos Wilde Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #568 by Brenda Adams <adamsfmle@...> on Apr 14, 1997

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