STIR FRY BEEF AND POLENTA

Entree - Lactose and gluten free - Can be vegan/vegetarian (READ footnotes)

I bought some stir fry beef and wanted to briefly cook it with bell peppers, mushrooms and other vegetable I had in the fridge. Turned out that the meat was not tender as I would have liked it, so I turned the "stir fry" into a "stir stew" and served with polenta :) During winter time, it's a perfect meal (and a complete one!) to warm you up and satisfy you completely! It's the perfect comfort food!!

For the "stir stew":
1 lb stir fry beef
2 large carrots, cut in 1" pieces
2 celery stalks, cut in 1" pieces
1 large onion, cut in 1" cubes
2 bell peppers, cut in strips
8 oz mushrooms, quartered
1 medium potato, sliced
1 oz dried Italian porcini mushrooms
1 28-oz can Italian peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine
1 rosemary sprig
3 sage leaves
3 tbsp Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt

For Polenta:
12 cups water
1 lb. Italian coarse polenta flour (bramata)
1 1/2 teaspoon Italian sea salt


First of all, start preparing your stir stew, which will cook for a longer time. Also, soak porcini in lukewarm water for 20 minutes.

In a large and deep saucepan with lid (better one with a heavy bottom), over medium high heat, warm the olive oil and sautee meat cubes stirring to try to get them golden on all sides.

Remove dried mushrooms, squeeze them and set aside; carefully strain water to remove impurities and save it.

Deglaze saucepan with red wine and let alcohol evaporate. Add the San Marzano tomatoes with their juice and the herbs, stir in the porcini mushrooms soaking water, lower heat to simmer, cover with the lid and cook for 1 1/2 hours at least, stirring occasionally.

At this point, add all the vegetables, stir and season with salt to taste. Cook until vegetables are soft.

While your stew cooks, prepare polenta: bring a large pot of water to a boil.

When the water boils, add salt and slowly add polenta flour in a thin stream, whisking; reduce heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes whisking frequently; reduce heat to low and cook for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

Serve polenta together with "stir stew" either on a side or on top of it.

This recipe serves 4

- If you want a softer polenta, use a little more water; if you want it harder, use a little less water or cook it for a longer time, so that water will evaporate more: there is NO overcooked polenta ;-)
- If you have leftover polenta, you can slice them and make a "lasagna" with the slices to be used instead of pasta.
- It's gluten free and lactose free.
- If you want a vegan/vegetarian dish, just stew the vegetables and serve your polenta with them.