Times are tough and getting creative is key. This whole coronavirus is setting in and it’s harder to go to Wegmans in the next town (which is bigger and more likely to have the virus spread) so finding ingredients here in Cortland is trickier but Carla Lalli Music is pretty inspiring with her seared mushrooms with creamy polenta. I love mushrooms now, something I avoided like the plague as a child, and I’ve had polenta once before at a restaurant to try it out. I wasn’t terribly impressed with polenta due to the texture and subtle flavor but I figured now is the time to try it again when I have a hand in seasoning and flavoring it. I bought a fancy mushroom blend at the store with shiitake, crimini, and oyster mushrooms and a premade polenta that came in a roll. Not what I was expecting with the polenta experience but after visiting 4 stores I was just happy to find the missing piece of my dish before my mushrooms went bad sitting in my fridge. The packaging for the polenta suggested cutting it into rounds and frying it or even microwaving it but I knew I wanted something creamy and cooked it down with some butter/cream and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. I followed Carla’s video to crisp up my mushrooms and topped them on the polenta and I was super happy.

I’m still not a huge fan of polenta and would still rather have a mashed potato base but it was balanced well by the mushrooms and this mix made breakfast for me for three days so I’m super pumped about that. Cost-effective and tasty. I’ll take it. Polenta still won’t be a pantry must for me but I’m more willing to try it going out to see how other people cook it and hopefully find a version I’m more fond of.