Soft Polenta with Braised Oxtails and Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

What exactly does one do with leftover oxtails?

Now, there's a question I hadn't expecting to be asking. And yet, there I was. Fresh off the thrill of making oxtail stock for French Onion soup, with a bowlful of slowly braised oxtails and nothing to do with them.

Because, I don't know about you, but oxtails are not usually in my culinary repertoire.

It seemed an absolute shame for these to go to waste, so I went hunting. It seems oxtails, being a cheaper cut of meat, are perfect for long braises and soup bases. Well, wonderful. But what if you were already serving an oxtail-based soup?

Well, as I've always said, there are few things polenta can't solve.

Turns out, oxtails are perfect companions for polenta. The softness of the meat after it's been stewing for 3 hours or so still has just enough bite to balance out the polenta. Add in a red wine sauce with mushrooms and you have yourself a hearty end of winter meal.

This, I should admit, was also my first attempt at a "proper" sauce. I usually have little time for them, but the oxtails needed a flavor boost to round out the polenta dish. The one I opted for was a basic red wine sauce with mushrooms and shallots but ended up being the perfect complement to the other two components. Yes, it takes a good hour to make the sauce ("as it should!" some people might say), but it's wonderfully complex and elevates the lowly polenta and oxtail to new haute cuisine heights.

Braised Oxtails

I don't recommend making these *purely* for this dish, as it takes about 2-3 hours of slow stewing. I used them as leftovers from my French Onion soup recipe, which started with a base of oxtail stock. Now, if you're interested in making oxtail stock (which you should be, as it's fabulous), see here for the recipe. 

And then, behold! You have braised oxtails, ready and willing for polenta purposes.

Otherwise, for this recipe, feel free to substitute roast chicken, pork, or beef as the meat topper to the dish. It's hard to go wrong. 

Soft Polenta

Makes about 4 cups (4-6 servings)

4 cups water

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Bring the water and butter to a boil in a large saucepan.

Pour in the cornmeal very slowly, whisking constantly.

Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the polenta is thick and comes away from the sides of the pan as it is stirred and the cornmeal has lost its raw taste, 30-40 minutes.

Stir in the Parmesan and the salt. Serve under the oxtails and red wine sauce. 

Red Wine Sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

8 ounces shallots, sliced (about 2 cups)

10-15 chestnut mushrooms, sliced thinly

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 750-ml bottle Pinot Noir or other dry red wine (see picture for my choice in cheap-o cooking wine) 

1 14-ounce can low-salt chicken broth

1 14-ounce can beef broth

2 fresh thyme sprigs

1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

1 Turkish bay leaf

1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon flour

Method 

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté until tender, about 12 minutes.  

Sprinkle sugar over; sauté until mixture is deep brown, about 4 minutes longer. 

Add vinegar; stir until liquid evaporates, about 1 minute. 

Add wine; boil until reduced by half, about 20 minutes. 

Add both broths, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaf; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer uncovered 35 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. 

Strain sauce through a fine mesh strainer. (If you want a "pure" sauce, discard the solids at this point. I wanted the richness of the mushrooms and shallots with my polenta so I saved them to be added in at the end.)

Mix butter and flour in small bowl. 

Bring sauce to simmer over medium-high heat; gradually whisk in flour mixture. 

Cook until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. (Mix in the reserved solids, if desired, at this stage.)

(Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over medium heat.)

Sweet Corn Polenta with Eggplant Sauce

I have yet to find a polenta-based dish I don't adore. And Yotam was kind enough to provide me with yet another means of enjoying some sweet corn action, combined with a glorious Italian eggplant sauce.

Now, fair warning, this is not standard polenta. You create a polenta-type meal from fresh corn kernels, butter, and feta and you blitz it all to oblivion. And how could that be wrong?

I used the eggplant sauce that Yotam recommends with the dish, but really, you can use any of your favorite polenta topping with this one. Cheese, mushrooms, the list is endless if you're as big a polenta fan as I am. But the eggplant sauce is good and perfect for a cold winter's night.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Eggplant Sauce
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 medium eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch dice
2 tsp tomato paste
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes (fresh or canned)
6 1/2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp chopped oregano

Polenta
6 ears of corn
2 1/4 cups water
3 tbsp butter, diced
7 oz feta, crumbled
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper

Method

Eggplant Sauce
Heat up oil in a large saucepan and fry the eggplant on medium heat for about 15minutes, or until nicely brown. Drain off as much oil as you can and discard it. Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir with the eggplant. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine and cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, water, salt, sugar, oregano and cook for a further 5 minutes to get a deep-flavored sauce. Set aside; warm it up when needed.

Polenta
Remove the leaves and silk from each ear of corn, then chop off the pointed top and stalk. Stand each ear upright on its base and use a sharp knife to shave off the kernels. You want to have 1 1/4 lbs of kernels.

Place the kernels in a medium saucepan and cover them with the 2 1/4 cups water. Cook for 12 minutes on a low simmer. Use a slotted spoon to lift the kernels from the water and into a food processor (or just use an immersion blender to save space and time) and reserve the cooking liquid. Process/Blend them for quite a few minutes, to break as much of the kernel case as possible. Add some of the cooking liquid if the mixture becomes too dry to process.

Now return the corn paste to the pan with the cooking liquid and cook, while stirring, on low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture thickens to a mashed potato consistency. Fold in the butter, the feta, salt, and some pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Divide the polenta among shallow bowls and spoon some warm eggplant sauce in the center.

Honeyed Prawns, Sausage and Polenta (Faux Shrimp and Grits)

If you've ever been to the South (yes, with a capital S), then more likely than not you've heard of the wonder that is shrimp n' grits. Like most of their cuisine, it's based on simple hearty flavors....with lots of butter. No no, that's not doing it justice (not being from the South myself). There's such a richness of tradition in southern cooking that it's hard for a poor non-southerner like myself to describe it accurately. Many of its iconic dishes are based on what used to be the food of the poor- what was left over or what could be acquired cheaply. Grits, rice and beans, ham, collard greens, all these things started out as what you could make easily and cheaply. No longer. Give those people a few hundred years and you get one of the best (and perhaps most definitive) cuisines of the US.

For me, nothing represents the best of Southern cooking like shrimp and grits. Ostensibly simple, it involves a base of grits (for an explanation on this, see earlier posts lamenting its absence in England), topped with a hearty portion of shrimp/prawns and sausage cooked in a special blend of seasonings. The dish is one of my all time favorites. But alas, re-creating it authentically over in England is a bit far-fetched. So I resorted to the usual grits substitute: polenta and worked with what I had in terms of sausage (hunter's sausage in this case) and shrimp (all I could find were the tiniest little things I had ever seen). If I ever make this recipe again (more than likely), I would search high and low to find sizable prawns, the tiny things I could find did not do the trick. Regardless though, it was absolutely delicious and still had a tinge of the authentic to it. The sweet currants in the polenta with the spicy/savory sauce for the protein were a great combination. A great twist on the old Southern standby.

Ingredients
For the prawn/sausage marinade:
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Sea salt
1 pound large, peeled, and deveined prawns
2 links, hunter's sausage, sliced thinly

For the polenta:
1 cup polenta
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup currants
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Sea salt
Black pepper

For the topping:
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons capers
Hot sauce (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Butter an 8 x 10-inch (20.3 x 25.4 cm) baking dish. Oil a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Set the pans aside.

2. To make the marinade: Combine the tomato paste, honey, lemon juice, olive oil, hot sauce, garlic powder, and a pinch or two of salt in a medium bowl. Toss the prawns and sausage with the marinade. Set the bowl aside, giving it a stir every few minutes.

3. For the polenta: Bring 3 cups cold water to a boil in a medium stainless-steel pot. Add the polenta. Cook seven minutes, stirring often. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, mix the corn (completely thawed if frozen), currants, honey, butter, and thyme. Stir in the polenta, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add polenta mixture to the buttered baking dish. Spread evenly with a spatula, and place in the oven to bake for 35 minutes.

6. Spread the prawn/sausage mixture evenly onto the oiled baking sheet. After the polenta has baked for 25 minutes, add the prawns to the oven, alongside the polenta. Place both pans on same rack if possible; otherwise, place the baking sheet on the lower rack.

7. Bake the prawns for five minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and flip all of the prawns over. Return to the oven and bake an additional five minutes, until the polenta is slightly browned and the prawns are pink and firm.

8. Remove the prawns and the polenta from the oven. To serve, scoop individual servings of the polenta onto plates. Lay a few prawns over each serving, then top with crumbled feta, fresh parsley, and capers. Drizzle with a few lashings of hot sauce, if desired.

Roasted Mushrooms with Goat Cheese and Grits/Polenta

Any Southerner who would have read the above title is probably in a wonderful position to shoot me now. I know, I know. You fundamentally can't confuse polenta with grits. Yes, they're both made from corn. Yes, they both can have a wonderful porridge-like consistency. But there is no way on heaven or earth that you can call one the other. I'm sure there's an actual fundamental difference between them (well, actually, even Wikipedia says they're darn similar), but when in England, grits are nowhere to be found.
Yes, this is sadly correct. Despite having adopted many a questionable item of American cuisine (like Poptarts, for example), grits remain an absolute unknown in the English food palate. Tell them about polenta and they're on board. Talk to them about grits and you get a blank face.
So, when I found this recipe (thanks to the NY Times Temporary Vegetarian), my heart yearned for the American original, yet I contented myself with the British equivalent. Which meant polenta. I was a bit nervous about using polenta instead of grits with the amount of water and milk that it called for, but it turned out beautifully. Just creamy enough to balance with the mushrooms and cheese and sticky enough to hold itself together in the bowl. I also had some leftover dried porcini mushrooms that I used with the recipe and used the water I rehydrated them with (infused with a wonderful mushroom-y taste) to blend with the milk in the recipe. An absolute win.

Grits may be off the menu for a little bit, but at least with this recipe, I have a fairly decent imitation. 

Ingredients

For the mushrooms:
1 cup chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and hard stems discarded
1 cup oyster mushrooms, cleaned and hard stems discarded
1 cup porcini mushrooms, rehydrated
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig thyme
4 cloves garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the grits (if you're lucky enough to have them) or polenta:
2 cups milk
1 jalapeño, split and seeded
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup organic grits/ 1 cup polenta or fine cornmeal
2 tablespoons butter
2 ounces fresh goat cheese

Method

1. For the mushrooms: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, creminis, olive oil, thyme and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a sheet pan, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, discard thyme and garlic, and cover to keep warm. While the mushrooms are roasting, prepare the grits.

2. For the grits/polenta: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, 2 cups water (here I used the porcini mushroom "juice"), jalapeño, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary and salt. Bring to a simmer then remove from heat. Pour through a fine-meshed strainer into a heatproof bowl, and discard the solids.

3. Return the liquid to the saucepan, and place over high heat to bring to a boil. Add the grits, lower the heat to medium, and stir constantly until fully cooked and smooth, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add butter and mix well.

4. Add the goat cheese immediately before serving and mix well. Divide the grits/polenta among six plates, and spoon the roasted mushrooms over the grits/polenta.

Serves: 6.

Italian Eggs over Spinach and Polenta

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) tube of polenta, cut into 12 slices (or soft polenta, made by combining 1 cup polenta with 2 cups boiling water, stir occasionally until water is absorbed & polenta is fluffy)
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce
• 1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese

Preparation

Preheat broiler.
Arrange polenta slices on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of polenta with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
While polenta heats, bring sauce to a simmer in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in spinach; cover and cook for 1 minute or until spinach wilts. Stir to combine. Make 4 indentations in top of spinach mixture using the back of a wooden spoon. Break 1 egg into each indentation. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until eggs are desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle with cheese. Place 3 polenta slices on each of 4 plates; top each serving with one-fourth of spinach mixture and 1 egg.