Food for when you're sick

The problem with being sick, is I eventually do want food, but have no energy to do dishes or much of anything. Today I decided to make food and damn the dishes! I can let the dishes sit in the sink for a day. I need real food.

Unfortunately, today I wanted polenta. Really bad. Polenta. Must have it. Couldn't think of anything else. Didn't want leftover braised goat, didn't want a sandwich or eggs, or even cheese. Polenta. As I look in my fridge I see some lamb bratwurst from Mint Creek Farm that has to be cooked. They have a stand at the Green City Market here in Chicago and it's awesome. They carry lamb, and goat, and when the ducks feel like cooperating, duck eggs. Well, the sausage was thawed and needed to be used.

So I took the lamb out of it's casing and cooked it through. Then I added the wild mushroom pasta sauce and added four jars of chicken stock. I let it simmer for a few hours until I was ready to stand up again and the sauce had reduced by half.

Then I pulled up a stool and proceeded to make polenta. I realized that I'd used the rest of my chicken stock for the sauce, so I had to use plain water. I added some kosher salt, minced garlic and onion from The Spice House some hot sauce and red pepper flakes. To make the polenta a little bit more soupy I did a 1c polenta: 31/2 c liquid.

Open up the fridge again, and for the first time in a very long time, I have no parm. None. No rinds, no hard grating Italian cheese of any kind. What I did have was some Monterey Jack with mushrooms and onions from Brunkow Cheese that I'd picked up at the farmer's market with the plan being quesadillas. Quesadillas be damned! Into the pot it goes. Add the lamb sauce, stir it all together and you have what I am calling "Polenta Stew". I did add a bit more hot sauce at the end. I'm trying to break a fever after all. It is delicious. Only one problem. In my feverish zeal literally to have polenta I forgot to drain the lamb fat before adding the pasta sauce. That's okay though, a little lamb fat never hurt.

This here is the cheese. Really delicious. Brunkow does a bunch of cheeses, and has an artisan line which produces Avondale Truckle and Little Darling, two incredible American cheeses. I will talk about them another time. Right now, need to finish up, take more NyQuil, and go to bed


Finished stew.


I was just farting around, waiting for the drugs to kick in and I ran across this article from the NYT. Polenta, apparently is en vogue and I don't mean the girl group from the 90's.

Oh, I forgot. I wanted to extend a hearty congratulations to the winners of this years ACS Cheesemaking scholarships:

Congratulations
Scholarship Winners!

2009 Cheesemaker Scholarships have been announced! Please join us in congratulating these individuals.

Full:
María de Jesús López
Lacteos Acatic

Andrew Johnson
Shelburne Farms

Antonio Hernández
Queseria Los Hernández

Christopher Roelli
Roelli Cheese Company

Partial:
Chris Chmiel
Integration Acres

Aubrey Thomason
Zingermans Creamery

Alessandra Trompeo
La Casa dei Fromaggi