Chicken Sausage over Parmesan Polenta

Thursday night is poker night for the boys, so I was on my own :(  I had to make dinner for one.  We didn't really have much in the fridge, BUT I did have the two extra chicken sausages from last night's chili...cha ching! When I continued looking through the fridge I found: carrots, celery and Parmesan.  Okay, good start.  Moving to the cupboard I found a few interesting things like cornmeal!  Quick fact, I have no idea where it came from but the expiration date was 2007 (didn't notice that till after I made it).  I figured I could experiment with some polenta and top it with a chicken sausage hash.  Alright, I had a plan, now it just has to be executed...rut roh

What you need:

• olive oil
• red pepper flakes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 stalks of celery (including the leafy tops)
• 2 carrot sticks
• 1 small onion (I didn't use it but, I REALLY wish I had an onion around)
• 2 chicken sausage links
• 2 c chicken stock
• 3 c milk
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 c cornmeal
• 1 c parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Dice up the carrots, celery, garlic and (if you are lucky enough) an onion.

Heat a couple tbs of olive oil and spike it with a couple shakes of red pepper flakes.

When the oil heats up, add in the veggies and saute for about 5 minutes to allow the veggies to get soft.

Take the casing off of the chicken sausage and add to the veggies.  See the chili recipe if you want to see gross pictures of taking that casing off of the chicken sausage.

 Break up the chicken sausage and cook through.

In a seperate pot, bring to a boil the chicken stock and 2 cups of milk.

When the mix comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and slowly whisk in the cornmeal.

The mixture will look runny at first but, it will tighten up quickly.  Let cook for 5 minutes.

Add in the last cup of milk and the butter (or margarine)

Whisk in the parmasan cheese.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  If it is still too thick, add some more milk in.

Scoop the polenta into a bowl and top with the chicken sausage mix.

 

It was so simple, but it ended up being really good!  

 I think I have forgotten how to cook for one.  I cooked a "correct" amount of the chicken sausage mix, but I made enough polenta for an army!  I have a plan for it so stay tuned for that experiment!

Enjoy!

BTW:  The expired cornmeal worked/tasted fine!  Check back in a few days to make sure I'm still alive!