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Polenta Cakes w/ Red Wine Mushrooms - 2Teaspoons

Polenta Cakes w/ Red Wine Mushrooms

Creamy, slightly sweet, grilled polenta cakes topped with rich red wine mushrooms and shredded cheese!
Course Appetizer
Servings 8
Author 2Teaspoons

Ingredients

  • Polenta:
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Mushrooms:
  • ½ stick + 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 lb cremini or white mushrooms sliced
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 3-5 diced green onions
  • 1-1/2 cup red wine: Burgundy Merlot, Cab, Etc.
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • fresh parsley minced, to taste
  • Grilling and Assembling:
  • 8 polenta cakes prepackaged or from recipe
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • shredded cheese of your delicious choosing! Cheddar or parmesan cheese would work great! I used a Syrah soaked Toscana cheese from Trader Joe’s to up the red wine factor :-)

Instructions

  1. Polenta cakes*: Bring water and salt to a boil. Gradually sprinkle in cornmeal, whisking continuously until all cornmeal has been added. Simmer until mixture becomes thick, about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to keep cornmeal from sticking to bottom, about every 5-10 minutes. If polenta gets too thick to stir during cooking, add in a little extra water. Once mixture is done cooking, pour it into a lined baking sheet/jelly roll pan, making sure polenta is at least ½” thick. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to set for at least 2 hours (up to 2 days).
  2. Pioneer woman’s red wine mushrooms: Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic and green onions and stir occasionally until mushrooms are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add wine and scrape bottom of pan. Simmer until sauce is desired thickness, about 5-10 minutes. Stir in one tablespoon of butter then add parsley, salt, and pepper to taste.
  3. Slice polenta into 8 cakes. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and place 4 polenta cakes in a (preferably cast iron) skillet**. Grill cakes for 5 minutes, until the pan-side is golden brown. Flip and grill until other side is golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining polenta cakes.
  4. Once all polenta cakes are grilled, top with a generous amount of mushrooms and shredded cheese. Buon appetito!!! :-)

Recipe Notes

*If using prepackaged polenta skip to next step
**Directions for grilling polenta cakes assume your skillet will only fit 4 at a time (like mine!). If you have a skillet big enough for all 8, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and cook all of them at the same time.