WET POLENTA WITH MUSHROOMS, PARMESAN AND TRUFFLES
Polenta is the ultimate comfort food, laden with butter and cheese. I have simply adorned it with mushrooms, more cheese and of course slithers of fresh fragrant truffles.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Polenta
250g of polenta
1litre water
200ml of full fat milk
80g parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus extra for serving
80g of unsalted butter or truffle butter, softened,
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Mushrooms
500g mushrooms, cut into thick slices or quarters
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves
Squeeze lemon juice
Salt and cracked pepper
1 truffle (15-20g) shaved thinly
Method
Begin by making the polenta.
Bring the water to the boil and add plenty of salt. Whisk in the polenta and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring often to break up any lumps. If the polenta becomes too thick and starts sticking, add a little more water
Meanwhile prepare the mushrooms by placing a saucepan over moderate heat olive oil. Add mushrooms and let sit, without stirring, until browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook until golden in colour. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
Go back to the polenta and stir in the milk, then add the cheese and butter and continue stirring until melted. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
To serve, ladle the polenta onto the plates or one large one and top with the garlicky mushrooms, shave over more parmesan cheese and finish with shaving fresh slivers of truffle all over the mushrooms and polenta.
Enjoy immediately.