We love polenta, but we don’t make it as often as we probably should. Clayton was going through our pantry a few weeks ago and found a special bag of polenta from Italy, so we decided to work it into our weeknight dinner plans.
Sometimes the easiest dishes are the most satisfying. We made the polenta according to the package instructions. Make sure to use a high enough saucepan to cook it, since it tends to bubble and splatter. We made ours in a four-quart saucepan.
We topped our polenta with browned Italian sausage from Olivier’s Butchery, sauteed beet greens and onions, and a little Grana Padano cheese. This would be a great weeknight dinner for a cloudy day like today. It would also make for a very easy rustic Italian dinner party, especially if you set the table with simple china like these simple white low bowls from Crate & Barrel and these recycled wine bottle glasses from West Elm.
One tip for getting your beet greens clean: after cutting them, put them in a salad spinner and fill it with water. Move them around in the water to get off any dirt, then pull out the basket and rinse well. Empty the water from the salad spinner bowl, and you can store the greens in the salad spinner in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use.
- 1 cup polenta, prepared
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 bunch of beet greens, washed and cut into 1” strips
- olive oil
- Grana Padano
- Salt
- Pepper
- Prepare polenta according to package instructions.
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a sauté pan. When the pan is hot, add the onions until they begin to color, and then add the beet greens until they wilt. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add sausage to the pan. Cook until well browned, then return the onion and beet green mixture to the pan to warm through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve over a scoop of polenta. Top with Grana Padano.