Rustic Sausage and Spinach Polenta Casserole

Quick cooking polenta, where have you been all my life? Oh my goodness I have missed out up until now. Tonight's recipe was Rustic Sausage and Spinach Polenta Casserole. I am seriously madly in like with creamy polenta. I am going to move directly into the ingredients and cooking instructions and then I will share my thoughts. This one was honestly so fantastic that I can't wait to write about it. Here goes:

Polenta Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups instant (quick cooking) polenta; I used Bob's Red Mill coarsely ground Polenta

Salt and ground black pepper

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed (about 1 tsp)

Topping Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

Salt and ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casing removed

6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 2 Tbsp)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

8 ounces curly-leaf spinach, stemmed, washed and chopped coarse

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup)

2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

For Polenta: Combine water, polenta and 1 1/2 tsp salt in large bowl, cover and microwave on high power until most of the water is absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir polenta thoroughly; then continue to microwave uncovered until creamy and completely cooked, 1 to 3 minutes longer. Stir in Parmesan, butter, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm, set aside.

For Topping: Meanwhile, heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and 1/2 tsp salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add sausage and cook, breaking meat into large chunks with wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add tomatoes with juice, bring to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally until the flavors blend, about 5 minutes. Stir in spinach, a handful at a time, and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Smooth cooked polenta evenly into a 13 X 9 inch baking dish. Carefully spoon sausage mixture on top of polenta and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until polenta is heated through and cheese is melted and just beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let casserole cool for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with parsley and serve.

This recipe had me at polenta. I have only purchased pre-packaged polenta in roll form in the past so this was my maiden voyage making it from grit form. I was first of all, apprehensive about cooking polenta in the microwave. I have not yet prepared a recipe that called for microwaving any ingredient so I was a bit wary. Upon reading further explanation of the recipe, I learned that Cook's Illustrated did many trial preparations of polenta before coming up with this one. There is a reason they microwaved it......the polenta was fantastic this way. I don't know what I was thinking by questioning Cook's Illustrated. They have been right on the money for me every time. Let me just say that if I am to be honest, you could have given me a shovel to scoop the polenta directly into my mouth before I even added the Parmesan and butter. It was just creamy and beautiful.

Now, onto the topping. Sweet Italian sausage is not the lowest fat food you can eat but that is exactly what made it such a treat. I purchased Metropolitan Market's handmade pork sausage and the flavors were fresh and vibrant. After adding the other beautiful ingredients, including dark green organic spinach, there was no way to go wrong. Brad, Olivia and I were enamored with the polenta layer. Brad said it added a lightness to the richness of the sausage layer. I think I may be turning my husband into a foodie :).

One last side note, Cook's Illustrated provided a vegetarian recommendation for this recipe. For the vegetarian version, they substituted a combination of cremini mushrooms with dried porcini mushrooms. Sounds wonderful to me. I would also recommend leaving the sausage out of the recipe and serving it with a spinach and tomato only topping.

I would absolutely make this recipe again and again. More than that, I have found a new starch to work with. I think I have gone cuckoo for polenta so don't be surprised if you see it a few more times in the near future.