Meat Sauce over Parmesan Polenta

The other day on Facebook the chef at Leon's, Edward Varipapa, posted a photo of his Spicy Quick Sauce over Creamy Parmesan Polenta. I was like, "Hey, we're having that next week!" I can only imagine how delicious his sauce was but I have to say mine was pretty tasty. The sauce was made with chopped sauteed onions, Beef, Veal and Pork which were browned along with the onions. I also added some sweet and hot sausage. San Marzano Tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, oregano and a lot of love were added to the sauce. Nice! The sauce was made yesterday. Nothing like sauce simmering on the stove on a Sunday morning.
The polenta... well okay here I cheated. I used instant Polenta. Seriously, I am not making polenta after sitting in a car in traffic for over an hour. Nope. I love instant Polenta. We even put in under the broiler to brown up the top a bit.
We both loved this dinner, even though someone is not a huge Polenta fan. Seriously! Fine, more for me!

 

And we had a little leftover Chicken from last night's dinner for Archie. 

Happy Monday and may the 4th be with you!

Salad Nicoise and Escarole and Sausage Stuffed Bread

Making it a little lighter tonight. (And planning my lunch for the week.) I have been wanting a salad for a while now. Perhaps it has been the endless snow and cold but I could not face a heavy winter meal. Don't get me wrong I love winter comfort foods. Putting something in the oven to simmer for 3 or 4 hours is perfect for January. But I think we are in March. Enough already. Potatoes, Green Beans, Hard Boiled Eggs, Tomatoes, Feta Cheese, Olives, Roasted Golden Beets and some Scallions. I did not add the Tuna. Honestly there was plenty in the bowl to choose from. I made a simple vinaigrette consisting of Cider Vinegar, Dijon Mustard, Olive Oil, Parsley, Tarragon, Salt and Pepper. It was a nice change from beans in soup.

Now on to the bread. Last week I saw on Leon's Restaurant's Facebook page a photo of a Stuffed Bread with Sausage and Dandelion Greens. It looked delicious and I wanted to make some. I had Pizza Dough in the freezer and I picked up small head of Escarole and some Sausage. I cooked the Escarole, sauteed the Sausage.  Then I put everything along with some Provolone Cheese on the pizza dough and rolled it up to make the bread. A perfect side to the salad and enough leftovers to go with my salad for lunch. Always thinking ahead.