This dinner certainly isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but boy, is it ever good on a cold winter night. Allow me to explain what it is, since it really just looks like a big yellow blob.
It’s an Italian take on a shepard’s pie. I made a saute of spicy sausage, kale, and tomatoes, topped it with a layer of polenta and a handful of grated cheese, and tossed it in the oven. The cheese bubbled and melted, the polenta got crispy-crunchy around the edges. It’s the kind of comfort food that’ll warm your heart, your soul, your stomach, and leave you barely even caring that you seem to be caught in the epicenter of that danged polar vortex. [Read more…]
There’s been an awful lot of soup in my life for the past few weeks. Every time I put another pot on the stove, the little voice in my head replays a line from the movie “Juno”. 
My little brother is getting married this summer and called me while I was in the midst of making these lamb shanks, asking what types of pots and pans he should register for. I had to laugh because first of all, when did my baby brother grow up and become so domestic and second, the question was timed so appropriately. It took me about half of a second to come up with the item to put at the top of the list.
There was a winter, quite a few years back, when I was rarely without a jar of these biscotti on my kitchen counter. I was a total addict, eating them every morning with my caffè latte, cleaning up crumbs mid-afternoon, dunking them into my bedtime tea. And then, my morning coffee habits changed and they fell off my radar. But only temporarily. Thank goodness.
Every time I make fish this way, I find myself asking why I don’t make dishes like this more often. It’s incredibly simple, quite healthy, and way quick. And, don’t worry, it’s also totally delicious–I still have my priorities straight.