Sage Polenta, Braised Turnips and Poached Eggs

I had sooo much leftover corn from the CSA that I had no idea what to do with! That and I was lucky enough to have today off for a Jewish holiday at work so I decided to whip up a fancy brunch. This was easy to make but a little time consuming because it took a bit of time to bake the polenta. But this meal is very filling and healthy. It is inspired by the following recipe on Epicurious. I never knew how easy it is to make fresh polenta at home! I will be going back to this dish again. It is the perfect thing to make when you are entertaining for brunch. You can change up the spices based on what is in season and add meat even if you wanted to please a crowd of pork lovers!

Fennel Bacon Chiocciole

Mock Tortilla Espanola

My friend Clea just moved back from Montreal so I have been able to see a lot of my little stinker lately. She taught me how to make tortilla espanola. I can not make it nearly as good as she can...so this recipe below is the bastardized version. The apples give it a hint of sweetness. 

Banana Bread

This recipe is adapted from one my dad gave me, from one someone else gave him. So typical! I feel like most my blog entries start that way. This bread is dense and delicious! Most important, you can make this from ingredients you probably have in the house. I always buy bananas when I go shopping. As they turn brown, I throw them in the fridge, and then the freezer. I use the frozen bananas to make bread or as a sweetener in baking instead of using so much sugar.

Goat Cheese Lamb Bolonese

I made this sauce tonight because I wanted something fast for dinner. This is definitely a good dish for the cold, wintery weather, even we aren't quite there yet! Can you tell I can't wait for the cold? The goat cheese is just enough to make the sauce creamy but not overpowering. As well as the lamb and the goat cheese complement each other nicely.

The sauce is inspired by Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbook's 5 minute tomato sauce but I kicked it up to a new level with the meat and the cheese.

I served my sauce over pasta with a side of sauteed rapini. For the rapini, I cooked in a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper, and 4 cloves of minced garlic. This was the perfect side. The entire meal took 30 minutes to cook start to finish.

Chicken in a Sage-Marjoram-Leek Cream Sauce

Here is another Jamie Oliver inspired recipe, however, I basically just highjacked the ingredients and then modified them to my own tastes. I did not follow his cooking methods at all because, well that's what I like to do with recipes!

British Dining: Mushy Peas and Fried Fish Sandwiches

When Marc and I went to London in March, our bodies almost fell apart. I don't think that either of us ate a vegetable the entire week we were there. I don't understand what it is about that place that noone eats vegetables. There was one night we attempted to order a salad and it came literally with 2 pieces of iceberg lettuce, canned corn and canned olives, drenched in oil! It was kind of funny, being that we usually only buy organic produce and in London we couldn't even find restaurants that were serving anything remotely vegetable-like.

But then there was this one day, where we ate the best fried fish sandwiches with mushy peas on the side. Since then I told him I would attempt to recreate the dish one day. So here it is!