Comfort Food For Jena

My friend Jena stayed home from work today. She never calls in sick unless she's really sick and today was that kind of day. In an effort to help, several of us bombarded her with thoughtful suggestions for comfort food, none of which seemed to appeal to her. As one of our number pointed out, our "help" didn't do our invalid any good but all of us knew what we were going to have for dinner tonight. The amusing thing is, I think every one of us went with one variation or another of the dish Wolfie suggested. She didn't name it but I've called it Wolfie's Polenta Pie and, in her own words, this am how it goes:

I brown some sausage (the recipe I have doesn't call for the sausage, but my family and I love it), then add the chicken broth and some water. Bring it to a boil. Slowly pour in the polenta, stirring constantly. When it's all mixed in and starting to bubble and pop, take it off the heat and add some olive oil (or butter), salt & pepper to taste, and herbs if you want them. I usually add sage and a bit of thyme. Stir that up good, then add a big ol' handful of cheese, whatever flavor you like. Once that's stirred in and melted, flatten it out in the pan. I use a big, oven safe skillet to do all this in. Once you've gotten it flattened out, crack 8 eggs on top. I try to get mine evenly around the pan so each person gets a yolk on his or her slice. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. When you take it out, the eggs are still gonna look runny, but that's ok. Top the whole thing with another big ol' handful of cheese, and put it back in for another 10 minutes. The eggs will be perfect, the cheese will be melty but not quite crunchy, and the cornmeal mush will be creamy and yummy. If you can stand it, let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. That way you can cut it into slices like a pie. If you can't wait that long, use a spoon, and spoon an appropriate amount out on plates. YUM!!!!

Yum, indeed. Now, Wolfie has three big man-tummies to fill when she fixes a meal. Her version was a bit much for me. But I hauled out a couple of my six-inch Corning Ware bowls for Dee-sized portions and had at it.

There was no sausage, darn it, but I had a pound of hamburger that needed cooking up so I crumbled it into the frying pan, seasoned it heartily and set it aside. Then I did the microwave routine with the corn meal: in a large bowl, 3 cups chicken broth, 1 cup corn meal, whisk together smoothly. Cover loosely with a lid, nuke 5 minutes. Whisk again, nuke another 5 minutes. Take out and add grated cheese and either a pat of butter or a glug of olive oil.

I had carefully spooned portions of the polenta into the two baking dishes before I realized I hadn't added the cheese and butter. Yike! It's like a receiver in football -- you don't think of anything but that ball until you've caught it. Then you can think about running for the touchdown. There I was, thinking touchdown and the ball wasn't even there yet.

I sighed and scraped the polenta back into the big bowl and added the cheese and butter, then carefully portioned it out again. Then I cracked one egg on top of each. (Had I picked some up yesterday, I'd have spread a layer of salsa and then added the egg.) As I put the dishes in the oven, I was eye-level with the top of the stove -- that's when I realized I'd forgotten to put in the hamburger!

I looked back at the dishes in the oven. Back at the waiting hamburger. Muttered "Mein Gott in heffen!" and slammed the oven door shut. Set the timer for 15 minutes, added the rest of the shredded cheese and cooked the pies another 10 minutes.

Took some pictures. Here's where I learned the camera is smarter than I am. The quality of the photo in the LCD screen is not the same as on the computer screen. The camera told me to raise the flash. I said, "Nah, this looks like plenty of light," and merrily snapped off 3 shots. Finally, just to play fair, I took 1 shot with the flash. Guess which one turned out?

The Polenta Pie turned out, too. I didn't even lose out on the hamburger. Simply spooned a glob of it onto the pie and worked it in as I ate. No problem.

Except by the time I was halfway through, I was so full I felt like I was waddling while sitting still. Covered the dish and left it on the table. I'll go back and finish it off for my midnight snack. The other one should nuke up nicely for meals tomorrow. I'm in 'em.

Jena, I sure hope you feel better by now. I want you to feel good enough to have some of this scrumptious comfort food, too.