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.

Lemon Garlic Shrimp with Polenta

I was browsing through foodnetwork.com as I often do, and came across a recipe for "shrimp & grits". I was instantly won over by the picture, it just looked so delicious and fresh, especially with the little flecks of flat leaf parsley scattered all over the top.

I've never had grits and certainly there is not a box in my pantry, but I know its similar to polenta [ which I love] so I decided to swap the two and make this meal. This was such a quick, easy and comforting dinner. It only took about 20 minutes tops, and only that long because I had to wait for polenta water to boil. While I was waiting, the chef-to-be in me decided to make a shrimp stock with the shells. It is now in the freezer, ready for any soup I feel like creating.

I imagine you can add any flavor combination you'd like to these shrimp and the sauce. I added a splash of white wine to mine instead of the water that is called for. The Jewish girl in me did slightly feel guilty, but shellfish is too good to pass up.

Delish!