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| Photo courtesy of Rachel Ray Magazine |
Another first in this household (who knew Rachel Ray would be introducing so many firsts to me?), I've never served polenta. Well, I take that back.... I tried a long time ago, but the only polenta I could find was the kind in the tube that looks like cut and bake cookies. It was... um, weird. And I didn't even bother to serve it to the family because I knew they wouldn't touch it. But I saw a cooking show once that talked about instant polenta (which is basically corn meal), so I thought I'd give that one a try.
It was so yummy that I'm hooked. Granted, what made is so yummy, namely heavy cream and lots of cheese, isn't so figure-friendly, so I'm going to have to watch how often I serve it up. But wow, it was delicious! I even had the leftovers for my lunch today and served cold bits of it to Ava for breakfast. She gobbled it up.
Abe really liked this recipe, polenta and all. I suspect that it's very similar in flavor to a chicken pot pie, minus the crust. Just creamy and yummy and good. And like all of the 20 dinners, it came together in a snap.
The fontina can be found in the deli cheese area. It melts down into a cream, so it's perfect for something like this. It adds a wonderful flavor, too.
Creamy Chicken with Soft Polenta
1 onion, minced
3 tbsp. butter
10 oz. sliced cremini (or baby bella or button mushrooms)
2 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups Roasted Squash, chopped
1 1/2 cups Pulled Chicken
1 cup peas
Salt and pepper
1 cup instant polenta
1 cup fontina cheese, chopped
In 12-inch skillet, cook onion in 2 tbsp. butter. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Stir in flour for 1 minute. Pour in 1 1/4 cups cream and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in squash, chicken and peas; season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Cook polenta in 3 1/2 cups boiling water with 1/2 tsp salt until thickened, 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/4 cup cream, 1 tbsp. butter and fontina until smooth. Serve chicken over polenta.
