White Cheddar Polenta with Braised Greens, Mushrooms, and Pancetta

by hsmeow

Prep time: 0:30 Overall time: 0:35

Servings: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

½ pound fresh wild seasonal mushroom, cleaned and sliced in half
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 stems green garlic, thinly sliced (regular garlic will work if you can’t get green garlic)
¼ pound pancetta (Italian cured bacon) or bacon, sliced
4 cups water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)
¾ cup grated white Cheddar cheese
¼ cup butter
1 pound braising greens, washed and torn into bite size pieces (Kale, collards, beet greens, chard, and turnip greens all work well either mixed together or separately)
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup freshly grated Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring water and salt to boil.
Slowly whisk in polenta and reduce heat
Cook , stirring often, until polenta thickens about 25 minutes.
Stir in the grated Cheddar and the butter
Cover and set aside.

Wash your greens and set aside in a colander. Do not shake off any excess liquid
In a large pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the green garlic and pancetta until lightly browned.
Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-6 minutes.
Turn heat to high and add the greens
Toss together until slightly wilted
Turn heat to down to low, cover, and braise for 5-6 minutes.

Serve the greens over the polenta, garnished with ground pepper and olive oil.

CHEF COMMENTS

This recipe was on my CSA's blog as a way to use the abundance of greens we were getting every week!

Tagged: greens, maincourses, mushrooms, pancetta, polenta add tags

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