Sausage and chard over creamy wild mushroom polenta

1-11-11 ****

A hearty winter dish for those cold evenings

1 ½ Cups Mushrooms sliced (Oyster, Clam, Shitake, Trumpet)

1 Bunch Swiss Chard de-stemmed and leaves chopped, stems sliced

2 cups Chicken stock

2 Tbs Butter

3 Tbs EVOO Sylverleaf Foothills blend (Is there anything else? ;))

½ Cup Polenta

1/3 Cup Heavy cream

Pine Nuts – Toasted

Cotijo Cheese

Halvarti Cheese

3 Sausages of your choice Greek Loukaniko, Hot Italian, Hot Sicilian

Wash, de-stem Chard. Cut leaves into strips and slice stems. Chop mushrooms…

Toast pine nuts in dry pan. Set aside

Heat up 4 cups of chicken stock, add salt to taste, add polenta and stir continually for 10 minutes. Add shrooms and stir cooking a couple minutes. Add halvarti and stir, cooking for a few minutes. Just before plating add the heavy cream and stir.

In a sauté pan, add sausage and 1Tbs Evoo, sauté sausages over med/high heat for 10 minutes browning all sides. Slice (Scissors) sausages in pan to retain juices. Add sliced chard stems and saute an additional 3 minutes…Remove sausages and stems to bowl. Retain pan juices, add a little EVOO and add sliced mushrooms, sauté for 3 minutes until shrooms release their juices. Add 2 chicken stock ice cubes(about ½ cup) and continue sautéing 3-4 minutes. Add this mixture to the polenta.

Add sausages and stems and sliced leaves back to pan with a the rest of the EVoo. Saute about 5-10 minutes until leaves have wilted and become soft.

Put a ½ Cup to a cup of polenta on the plate. Place chard, sausages on top. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

Pairs well with a chardonnay, syrah or a whiskey on the rocks.