Pan-fried Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms and Garlicky Spinach

I have been wanting to try to make polenta for a while but I was hesitant because I didn't really know what to serve it with. I consulted The Book (we all know which this is by now) and found that sauteed mushrooms were suggested with polenta. How convenient that I had some mushrooms that weren't used for Thanksgiving. I wanted some green on the plate so I decided on spinach, and I used the Garlicky Greens recipe on 101 Cookbooks as a rough guide.

The polenta was easy to make, but a little difficult to work with when cutting it and frying it. First you cook it in a pot, then pour it into a pan (I used a loaf pan) to cool. You can let it sit there all day if you want. Then you just slice it and do whatever you are going to do with it. I wanted to pan-fry it. I tried my stainless skillet at first but this is not a good idea. You need nonstick for this. The stainless saute pan worked great for the mushrooms though, since you deglaze with a little wine (yum).

This turned out to be a nice, delicious meal. I think it was pretty balanced too - protein from the spinach and carbs from the polenta. I would like to try some lemon with the greens too - maybe zest instead of juice to give it a little something refreshing.

I thought I had pictures of this, but I can't find them. Sorry!