an awesome recipe for dinner? look to the eggs in your fridge.

I really love cabbage; cabbage cousins include Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, and cauliflower but for me, cabbage sauteed in butter with loads of black pepper really takes the cake. Which leads me to my other love:  poached eggs, or fried eggs, or soft boiled eggs.  Are you an egg with a runny yolk that adds deliciousness to everything?  I love you.  I love you on pizza, on caesar salad, with toast (cut into strips, or “soldiers” for marching into said runny yolk).  I love you on a grilled tomato, atop buttered noodles with parmesan, or with homemade salsa and warm corn tortillas.  Putting the two together with creamy polenta on a rainy day equals brilliance in my book.  Pairing that with a Vermentino.  Heaven.

Creamy Polenta with Black Pepper Cabbage and Poached Eggs

2 cups Polenta

3 cups milk

4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

1 cup Cream

1/2 cup mascarpone

1/2 cup grated parmesan (we use Red Cow pram)

1 TBS minced garlic

1/2 TBS chili flakes

1 TBS minced rosemary

3 TBS each butter and olive oil

1 medium head cabbage, coarsely chopped, about 8 cups

1/4 cup butter

fresh cracked black pepper

8 organic, free range, super fresh eggs

2 t. unflavored vinegar

2 T Salt

2 quarts water

fresh cracked black pepper

grated parmesan cheese

Step One:

Start Polenta.

I like a coarse ground polenta for this dish to add some texture, but if you prefer fine ground, by all means:  go for it.

Creamy Polenta

recipe by Chef Erin Eastland

In medium saucepan heat oil and butter, add garlic, chili flakes and rosemary and cook till garlic is soft but not browned. Add milk, cream and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk in polenta and continue to cook over medium heat until polenta is thickened, whisking frequently to prevent from sticking to bottom or clumping. Add mascarpone and parmesan, season with salt and pepper to taste.

**For coarse polenta add about 1/2 to 1 cup more each of chicken stock and cream; cook about 20 minutes longer over a lower heat.

Step Two:

Sauté cabbage as polenta cooks.  Cut the cabbage into a large 1″ dice, removing the core.   – in the butter until translucent, soft and delicious.  Add salt to taste and tons of fresh cracked black pepper.

Step Three:

Poach eggs

Add 1 teaspoon unflavored vinegar and 2 tablespoons salt to 2 quarts water. Bring to a rapid boil, and lower the flame until the water merely shivers.

With a wooden spoon, stir water in a rotary movement so as to form a whirlpool in the center. Crack egg into a cup. Lift the cup with your left hand while you are stirring with your right, and in a simultaneous motion, stop stirring and slide the egg into the very center of the whirlpool.

Cook 3 1/2 to 4 minutes

Putting it all together:

Scoop polenta into warm bowls, top with sauteed cabbage and 2 poached eggs.  Crack black pepper over the eggs and sprinkle with a little grated parmesan.  Enjoy.

.

I really love cabbage; cabbage cousins include Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, and cauliflower but for me, cabbage sauteed in butter with loads of black pepper really takes the cake. Which leads me to my other love:  poached eggs, or fried eggs, or soft boiled eggs.  Are you an egg with a runny yolk that adds deliciousness to everything?  I love you.  I love you on pizza, on caesar salad, with toast (cut into strips, or “soldiers” for marching into said runny yolk).  I love you on a grilled tomato, atop buttered noodles with parmesan, or with homemade salsa and warm corn tortillas.  Putting the two together with creamy polenta on a rainy day equals brilliance in my book.  Pairing that with a Vermentino.  Heaven.

.

Serves  4

Recipe by Erin Eastland & Rachael Sheidan

.

2 cups Polenta

3 cups milk

4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

1 cup Cream

1/2 cup mascarpone

1/2 cup grated parmesan (we use Red Cow pram)

1 TBS minced garlic

1/2 TBS chili flakes

1 TBS minced rosemary

3 TBS each butter and olive oil

.

1 medium head cabbage, coarsely chopped, about 8 cups

1/4 cup butter

fresh cracked black pepper

.

8 organic, free range, super fresh eggs

2 t. unflavored vinegar

2 T Salt

2 quarts water

.

fresh cracked black pepper

grated parmesan cheese

.

I like a coarse ground polenta for this dish to add some texture, but if you prefer fine ground, by all means:  go for it.

.

recipe by Chef Erin Eastland

In medium saucepan heat oil and butter, add garlic, chili flakes and rosemary and cook till garlic is soft but not browned. Add milk, cream and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Slowly whisk in polenta and continue to cook over medium heat until polenta is thickened, whisking frequently to prevent from sticking to bottom or clumping. Add mascarpone and parmesan, season with salt and pepper to taste.

**For coarse polenta add about 1/2 to 1 cup more each of chicken stock and cream; cook about 20 minutes longer over a lower heat.

Step Two: Sauté cabbage as polenta cooks.

Cut the cabbage into a large 1″ dice, removing the core.   – in the butter until translucent, soft and delicious.  Add salt to taste and tons of fresh cracked black pepper.

Step Three: Poach eggs

Add 1 teaspoon unflavored vinegar and 2 tablespoons salt to 2 quarts water. Bring to a rapid boil, and lower the flame until the water merely shivers.

With a wooden spoon, stir water in a rotary movement so as to form a whirlpool in the center. Crack egg into a cup. Lift the cup with your left hand while you are stirring with your right, and in a simultaneous motion, stop stirring and slide the egg into the very center of the whirlpool.  Cook 3 1/2 to 4 minutes

Step Four: Putting it all together.

Scoop polenta into warm bowls, top with sauteed cabbage and 2 poached eggs. Crack black pepper over the eggs and sprinkle with a little grated parmesan.

Used in this post:  Mud Australia Dinner Plate in Safari, Mud Australia Medium Pebble Bowl in White