Gorgonzola Polenta with Spicy Vegetables

This is a ridiculously easy dish to make, and very fast to prepare when there's not a lot of time to make dinner. It's rich, sophisticated and nutritious ... what a great reward at the end of a long day at work!

Polenta is actually supposed to be cooked slowly, like risotto; but this faster version is still great, especially with the Gorgonzola stirred into it to make it even creamier.

Bright both in color and in flavor, this is a great meal to serve to take the chill off an Autumn evening.

Gorgonzola Polenta with Spicy Vegetables

Vegetables:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pesto

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes until the onion is translucent. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Stir together the tomatoes, salt and pesto; pour over the broccoli and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Polenta:
4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
2 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola

Meanwhile, bring the water and the salt to a boil. Turn the heat to low and slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Stir constantly until thickened and creamy, then remove from heat and stir in the Gorgonzola.

To serve: place 1 cup of polenta onto a serving dish, and top with one-quarter of the vegetables. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired.

Serves 4.

Cheese-Stuffed Italian Sausage Meatloaf

This may not be the most photogenic recipe I'll ever offer to you (trust me - I tried valiantly with different plates and angles and lighting!), but it's truly one of the best. Just imagine it: Italian sausage, Parmesan, Gorgonzola, pesto ... a feast of flavors, if not a feast for the eyes!

Meatloaf often gets a bad reputation because it's usually just plain ol' ground beef mixed with ketchup or bread crumbs or Lipton onion soup mix, but it doesn't need to be that way. Use a variety of meats, change up the sauces and seasonings, stuff something interesting into the middle ... give it a make-over and glam it up!

You can vary the spiciness of the dish by using mild, sweet or hot Italian sausage; and you can lower the fat content by using links made of turkey, if you prefer.

This dinner was devoured so quickly that there wasn't even a hope of leftovers for the next day - pretty good reviews for a meatloaf!

Cheesey Italian Sausage Meatloaf

1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 pound ground turkey
1 small red onion, chopped fine
4 tablespoons pesto, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
4 ounces Gorgonzola, divided
1/4 cup shredded parmesan

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sausage, turkey, onion, 2 tablespoons of the pesto, salt, pepper and oregano. Take two-thirds of the mixture and press it across the bottom and up the sides of a 9" pie pan. Place half of the Gorgonzola and all of the parmesan into the center of the circle, leaving a 1/2" border. Carefully spread the rest of the mixture over the cheese, and seal the edges.

Bake for 45 minutes, then brush with remaining the remaining 2 tablespoons pesto; sprinkle the remaining Gorgonzola over the top. Bake 5 more minutes.

Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before cutting into portions.

Serves 6-8.

Fried Potatoes with Red Pepper and Blue Cheese

I woke up early one Saturday morning ... well, I always wake up early, that's not newsworthy! I'm a "late to bed, early to rise" kinda girl, a notoriously poor sleeper.

So first I made a cup of coffee, because that is always the #1 priority of the day. And then I set about figuring out what to eat for breakfast.

I'm not usually a fan of sweet things to start my day ... pancakes or cinnamon rolls sometimes call to me, but not often. I'm someone who also doesn't believe in traditional breakfast foods, such as oatmeal or toast. Give me leftovers of spaghetti and meatballs! I'll happily eat re-warmed Chinese food! It's hard to know what I'll be craving at 6:30 in the morning.

And so, recently I was tired (oh, so tired!) of eggs. I didn't want Cheerios. I'd already polished off any leftovers from the week.

But then I found half a baked potato ... and I had a red pepper ... and there was a bag of walnuts ... and a brand new container of Gorgonzola was staring back at me as I peered into the refrigerator.

And thus, an exceptionally fine meal of fried potatoes with lots of other goodies tossed in for protein, flavor and color was born!

Fried Potatoes with Red Pepper and Blue Cheese

1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large baked potato, cut into 1/2" dice
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola

Melt butter and oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the potato, onion and red pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and walnuts; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes until the potatoes are golden and the vegetables are softening. Place the potatoes into a serving dish and top with the Gorgonzola.

Serves 1, but could easily be multiplied.

Rigatoni con Gorgonzola

Faithful readers know that I adore blue cheese -- Maytag, Gorgonzola, Stilton, doesn't matter. Salad dressing, dip, crumbled onto salad ... I love it!

After an enormously stressful day at work last week, I was craving some comfort. I'd had the idea of making macaroni and cheese from scratch, which ultimately evolved into pasta with a blue cheese sauce poured over it. And so, when I left work that fateful day I headed straight to the grocery store to get my ingredients. Cooking is my favorite way to decompress, after all.

Rigatoni, with its sturdiness, seemed the perfect shape, though shells or macaroni or penne or rotini would also work well. I debated whether to add spinach or green beans or peas, but the sweetness of the peas seemed to be the perfect complement.

I boiled and drained and stirred and whisked, and came up with a dish that perfectly matched my vision. It was golden and slightly toasted on top, yet the pasta was coated in creaminess. The blue cheese flavor was present, but neither pronounced nor prominent. My dinner was hot, delicious, and a perfect nurturing and nourishing end to my day.

Now, it's a simple dish so I should really just call it "Pasta with Blue Cheese Sauce." But that doesn't have a lot of charm, does it??? Specify the shape of the pasta, and roll the "r" when you say "rigatoni" ... that's better!

Say it in Italian next, to add a little flair to it: [ree-gah-TOH-nee kohn gohr-gun-ZOH-lah]. Wow ... now it sounds like something you'd order at a fancy restaurant!

But now that you know how easy it is, you can make it yourself one day when you just need something warm and wonderful to eat to make all your troubles float away ....

Rigatoni con Gorgonzola

1 pound rigatoni
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
1 cup skim milk
4 ounces Gorgonzola, crumbled
few splashes Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Cook the rigatoni according to package directions, adding the peas for the last minute of cooking.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan; whisk in flour and salt, and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly


Slowly add half the milk, whisking it into the butter/flour mixture until it is absorbed.


Add the Gorgonzola, Tabasco and mustard; whisk in the rest of the milk.


When the pasta is ready, drain it and stir it into the sauce; place into a greased 9" pie dish.


Broil for 5 minutes or so, just until the top is golden.


Serves 4-6.