Mushroom Polenta

I created this the other night and it tasted great. As usual, this
is a very simple recipe. I found the the textures and taste of the
three main ingredients to be very complimentary.

The recipe is for two servings (great for single folk - I never
prepare less than two servings) but should scale well. I would not
consider the servings a full main dish but it would work well together
with servings of beans or couscous, for example.

POLENTA WITH MUSHROOMS AND TOMATOES

1/2 cup polenta (fine cornmeal, for those who always ask ;-)
1+1/2 cup water
8 large mushrooms (I used "gourmet" brown button mushrooms)
10 sun-dried tomato slices, dry packed (...used Trader Joe's s.d. Romas)
hot chile pepper to taste
balsamic vinegar

Basic Polenta
- boil the water then drizzle the polenta into the swirling water.
- mix in the pepper cover and simmer for around 10 minutes, stirring
occasionally
- pour mixture into a loaf pan (glass??) and let cool off.

Recipe
- Bake basic polenta in oven at 425(F) for 20-30 minutes, turning once.
- chop mushrooms
- preheat a small frying pan using a medium flame, add balsamic
vinegar as if it was oil (I am more generous with it than with oil),
add mushrooms, stir, cover, and reduce flame to low for 10-15
minutes. Shake pan occasionally to mix.
- steam the sun dried tomatoes for around 5 minutes to rehydrate them
- chop sun dried tomatoes and add to mushrooms. Add water or
balsamic vinegar if necessary (the mushrooms release alot of liquid in
cooking.)
- pour the "sauce" over the polenta and serve.

The tomato/mushroom mixture is not really a sauce - by the time it's
done there is little or no liquid left. Perhaps an adventurous person
can try to work on that (add veg. stock & thickener?), it may be
better as is, though.

I prepared the polenta at the beginning of the week and refridgerated
it until making the rest of the recipe. The basic polenta should keep
for a week with no problem.