Polenta Bites with Mushroom & Caramelized Onion Ragu

 These little one-bite wonders, as I like to call them accompanied me and the lemon bars [from the last post] to the housewarming party. I saw a few recipes which inspired me to make these, one was warm polenta on individual spoons with caramelized onions, and the other was a mushroom marsala sauce. I changed a few things up (ok, many things) and came up with this delicious topping/sauce for polenta squares.

I had always wanted to make a fancy type of hors d'oeuvre and these were simple and relatively quick to cook, yet elegant.

These are just bursting with flavor, fresh thyme, italian parsley, and white wine and the polenta is the perfect blank canvas for this sauce. The flecks of green from the parsley elevated the appearance of the dish, making it very pretty. I do have to say, I made it again a couple nights after and used it as a sauce over roasted chicken, de-lish.


Polenta Bites with Mushroom Ragu

- 1/2 cup quick cooking polenta [ its what I had, you can use regular if that is what you have just adjust cooking time]
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 medium onion, sliced thin
- 16 oz mushrooms, capped & sliced thin
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tbsp flour
- bunch of fresh italian parsley, chopped



Make the polenta: bring the water to a boil, slowly whisk in the polenta. Turn the heat to low and stir for 5 minutes until its cooked through. Season with salt and add 1 tbsp of the butter. Pour into a greased 9 x 9 baking pan and let set covered, at room temperature or in the fridge, about an hour. When the polenta is set, use a small cookie cutter [about 1 inch] or cut squares with a knife and punch out circles. Set on serving plate and when sauce is done, top with 1 tsp of sauce each.

For the ragu: Heat a large saute pan or saucepan with oil. On low heat cook the onions, mushrooms, and garlic with the fresh thyme until the onions are soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes [they will turn brown, but this is not the same brown as if they were sauteed at a high heat].

Deglaze the pan with white wine and let it reduce. Add the chicken stock and let it reduce by half, about 5 mins. Meanwhile, make a beurre manie [ a raw roux paste, of equal parts flour and butter]. Use 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of butter, mix with your hands until it forms a ball.


Once the stock as reduced, add the beurre manie in pieces to the mixture and whisk to get rid of any lumps. The sauce should thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Chop up fresh parsley and mix in right before serving.

Garnish with whole parsley leaf if desired.

Enjoy!