Mushroom Polenta: It's Ok To Be Sad

Two years ago I started this blog as a sort of forever-in-the-cloud recipe book for myself. I am always forgetting how to make things that I have made half a dozen times and I thought it would be nice to have a visual reference.

Eventually my blog shifted into a sort of Recipe Blog That Hopefully Other People Read. I've always felt I come at the vegan blogosphere from a rather contrarian angle -- I'm not, after all, an expo-going Lululemon model with extensive meal plans and Raw Till Four strategies in my arsenal. I'm not a fermenter. I'm not an efficient manager of time and I am not networked up with the folks at Beyond Meat or Daiya or any number of organic, sugar-free, nut-free, soy-free, gluten-free granola companies.

So what's the point, then? Where's my niche?

Aside from the fact that the real answer is It Doesn't Matter, my niche is feeling insecure. My forte is feeling scared and strong in the same heartbeat. I am a professional skeptic. I yearn for the chance to be honest about how None Of This Really Matters, and two seconds later to be excited about how No, Actually Everything Is Important.

Food is cool. I like to talk about it. Also I'm 26 and I'm not convinced anyone has ultimate answers about why blogging or vegetables or salary jobs or marriage can be Big and Important or not so important if you'd like. I have not graduated from college and I work at a coffee shop. I read books sometimes. I write in my journal. I sit in public places and stare out the window, wondering if I should say anything or nothing at all to anyone who may or may not be listening. And I guess today I've decided to try again to say things, even if they are just about food or privilege and just to myself.

Because it's ok to want things. Even if they are dumb things.

***

The other night my boyfriend and I were making polenta for dinner. We got the pre-cooked kind that comes in a TUBE in the extensive health food section of Kroger, which I have cooked with maybe thrice.

And, I don't know, sometimes you just have a hard week and one day you get anxious about Attending A Baseball Game and the next day you get depressed about how you didn't wake up early enough and the next day you get sad about how Everything Seems Terrible All Of The Time. One thing leads to another and somehow you end up crying over polenta.

It can happen to you.

And then you get sad and embarrassed about how you're crying over polenta. So you cry harder. And then you get even more sad and embarrassed because now you're crying harder. And eventually your loving partner will not find you ridiculous and irrational, but rather will hold you close and tell you it's ok.

Or maybe he or she won't. And maybe you don't have someone next to you be make you feel safe. All I'm saying is, eventually you'll find your way out of the cycle. But hopefully you won't even get to that point, because you'll have read Meredith's Polenta Tips and Tricks To Avoid An Emotional Catastrophe.

Brought to you by Chinua Achebe and Food Merchants Organic Polenta.

#1. The tube is a construct

Polenta is a traditional Italian starch that can take the place of pasta, rice or potatoes. It's super versatile, but also takes a while to cook. If you've ever made polenta from scratch (slow-simmering for close to an hour), you know that your end-shape will be nothing like the tube shape from the store. Don't get hung up on the discs. Sure, these are cute and retaining the shape can be effective if you're looking for a stackable sauce vessel of sorts, but keep in mind that if you choose to pan-fry, you're essentially cooking a corn-patty. It may not hold up. That's okay.

#2. Consider baking

Things Fall Apart. Just remember that if you choose instead to brush the discs with olive oil and toss them under the broiler, this frees up your evening a little bit. Now there's time to wash dishes or listen to Mike and Tom Eat Snacks or go get a grape soda. Instead of hovering over a hot pan, thinking about all the things you'd already screwed up and all the projects you've already abdicated today.

#3. Use a non-stick

If you choose to pan-fry, for the love of god use a non-stick pan. This is a must. This is where there Rapidly Escalating Fears of Adulthood are most swiftly nipped in the bud.

#4. Remember, olive oil is expensive

Now that you're definitely using a non-stick pan, it follows that you don't need too much oil. A tablespoon will do. The polenta will retain a good amount of whatever you're frying in, and that shit can get too heavy too quick. 

***

If you're interested, considering that this was once a recipe blog and will likely continue to mostly be a recipe blog, here's how I made the mushroom sauce for this dish:

This chunky sauce is a fairly quick and extremely flexible side dish that goes will with polenta, as well as pasta or rice. Here's what I used:

2 Cups chopped white mushrooms

1/2 Cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp thyme

2 T Braggs liquid aminos

1 can coconut milk

In a saucepan, sauté the onion in a little bit of oil over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Then add half of the mushrooms, as well as the garlic, thyme and Braggs. Cook for about 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms are soft. Add the coconut milk and stir to incorporate. Pour the mixture into a food processor and set aside.

Satue the other half of the mushrooms in a little bit of oil, and cook until soft. Meanwhile, process the sauce mixture until pureed. Once the mushrooms are done cooking, add the sauce mixture back to the mushrooms and simmer, stirring occasionally, until ready to serve.

***

Anyways, it feels nice to be writing again. Even if it doesn't matter. It's good to do uncomfortable things.

Savory Sweet Potato Corncakes with Maple Cream

Hello. My name is Meredith and I love Brunch.

Sweet potatoes have been done 800 ways (and I am a sucker for every damn one of them). But this also means that every dude on the internet, from Martha Stewart to that Guy who wears his sunglasses upside down, has a recipe for sweet potato latkes. Or something similar.

But they all contain egg. Which is not cool with me. So here's a little something for you eggless types. I like a good savory brunch, and these sweet potato corncakes pair well with a sweet cream or syrup. These are hard to screw up and are easily crafted with a hangover (or a mimosa in hand).

Here's what you'll need (serves 3-4):

2 sweet potatoes (some certain size, peeled and grated)
1 shallot, peeled chopped

2 T all-purpose flour
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 C vegetable oil
2 T almond milk
1 T ground flax meal

olive oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine grated sweet potatoes with those chopped shallots. In a seperate, smaller bowl, whisk to combine your dry ingredients: the flour, cornstarch and spices. Add to the sweet potato mix. Use that same smaller bowl to whisk together your flax/oil/milk mixture, then add that to the large bowl.

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Your mixture should feel sort of sticky but able to be managebly spooned into cohesive lumps. This sentence made me LOL you guys.

Anyways, if things don't feel too right, you may add more flour if your mix is too wet, or more oil if it is too dry.

Heat a non-stick skillet with olive oil on medium-high. Be sure to not let the oil smoke, or else you're screwed and you need to start all over from the beginning (jk guyz). Spoon potato lumps onto the well-heated skillet 2 or 3 at a time. I always like to do the first one all on its lonesome, to test out the heat of the oil. Once that one is finished, you usually can know if your pan is either too hot or not hot enough.

Fry on one side for  2-3 minutes -but if you let yourself get *too* distracted mixing pre-brunch cocktails or checking Instagram, that's ok. Not all is lost. Flip those guys over, smush them flat, and fry another few minutes. Check the side to make sure it's a nice golden brown before setting on a paper towel to drain the oil/dry.

The maple cream I like to serve with these dudes is super easy (read: totally predictable). Just mix the following in a shallow bowl:

1/4 C vegan sour cream
1 T v. cream cheese
1 T pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp brown sugar

I like to drizzle this on top, but according to the Internet, it's more traditional to spoon some sort of sour cream on whatever sort of latkes you end up with.