Recipe Thursday!(Italian Style Beef with Polenta)

So I had a brief falling off the wagon with the blog so to speak- but I am back! This is a recipe I saw on another blog and thought it looked fantastic. It is from cooking light- so you can see the original recipe here! This also gave me the opportunity to finally break open the box to the my kitchen aid mixer meat grinder attachment(Thanks Rex). There is something kind of gross but also kind of awesome about grinding meat at home- it seems fresher- and I swear the fresh ground meat had more flavour than store bought- it was without a doubt a successful venture!

Italian Style Beef and Cheesy Polenta

Ingredients:

1 cup dry-coarse polenta

1 tsp dried oregano

Kosher salt

2 cups water

1 cup milk

3/4 cup grated parmigiana cheese

1 pound ground sirloin

1 cup chopped onion

1 tsp crushed red pepper

3 cloves minced garlic

2 cups marinara

Directions:

-So first off I cut up my sirloin steaks into 1/2 cubes and used my mixer to grind it up! I was surprised at how effectuation this little attachment is, super easy to use and almost all of the pieces are dishwasher safe!

                                        

-Once the meat was ground I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and a little Worcestershire- then I browned and drained the meat-

-Next I sautéed the onion,garlic, red pepper and salt in two tablespoons of olive oil for about 5 minutes or until the onions are soft. 

-Once the onions were soft I added the beef and tomato sauce to the onion mixture and let it simmer until the rest of the meal was prepared(around 20 minutes) I used scarpetta brand tomato sauce and it was delicious!

-In typical NYC fashion I was not able to find the kind of polenta I really wanted and ended up getting frustrated and going with a semi instant box version I found at the Gourmet Garage- it turned out alright but I am not sure I would use it again- if the beef/sauce had not been so awesome I am not sure this would have been a successful venture.......

-I followed the direction on the box to cook the polenta, and added extra cheese, salt and dried oregano- It took a lot of whisking- but the cheese integrated well and added good flavour!

-So once the polenta was done, I spooned it onto a plate and covered it with a hearty helping to the beef/sauce mixture- served with brussels sprouts and a simple dinner roll this was a really great Friday night dinner, and everyone in the apartment seemed to enjoy it! I think this was also the night I finally mastered the art of roasting brussels sprouts- so that recipe is soon to follow!