I had an appetizer dish at “Nico and Vali” in Plymouth, MI, that was not only great, but a meal in itself. The concept (according to the menu) was a base of grilled, butter and sage polenta, with with a couple of homemade sausage patties, which were topped with a grilled pepper and chiles mixture in a light tomato sauce. <br /> <br />Hokey Smokes, Batman! This was delicious and pretty much qualified as a meal. <br /> <br />I made 2/3 of the recipe off the side of the bag of Bob’s Red Mill Polenta and added a couple of tablespoons of sage leaves when I added the butter (slowly add 1 1/3 cup of polenta to 4 cups of boiling water with 1T olive oil, simmer for 30 minutes with frequent stirring; mix in 2T butter and 2T sage leaves, and transfer to an oiled 9x12 glass baking dish and let sit to firm up, at least 10 minutes; cut into 3x3 pieces). <br /> <br />Note: I do not add salt to anything, and I really do not understand why all the chefs do this except that they have become accustomed to too much salt. Believe me, if you can get down to about 1000 mg a day, or less, you will find that a little bit goes a long way, and you will prefer none. The one exception is adding a small portion of salt to beaten eggs and letting them sit for 5-10 minutes. The salt has a dramatic effect on making small, creamy curds once you see that deep orange color emerge in the pre-cooked eggs. <br />

Share: