Wet polenta with mushrooms, parmesan and truffles

Photo: Simon Lambert
Photo: Simon Lambert
Polenta, laden with butter and cheese, is the ultimate comfort food.  Here, I have simply adorned it with mushrooms, more cheese and, of course, slivers of fresh fragrant truffles.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Polenta
250g of polenta
1 litre water
200ml of full fat milk
80g parmesan cheese, finely grated, plus extra for serving
80g of unsalted butter or truffle butter, softened,
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mushrooms
500g mushrooms, cut into thick slices or quarters
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
¼ tsp fresh thyme leaves
squeeze lemon juice
salt and cracked pepper
1 truffle (15-20g) shaved thinly

Method
Begin by making the polenta.

Bring the water to the boil and add plenty of salt. Whisk in the polenta and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring often to break up any lumps. If the polenta becomes too thick and starts sticking, add a little more water.

While the polenta cooks, prepare the mushrooms by heating the olive oil in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Add mushrooms and let sit, without stirring, until browned, 7-10 minutes.

Add garlic and thyme and cook until golden in colour. Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Go back to the polenta and stir in the milk, then add the cheese and butter and continue stirring until melted. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

To serve, ladle the polenta on to the plates or one large one dish and top with the garlicky mushrooms, shave over more parmesan cheese and finish with shaving fresh slivers of truffle all over the mushrooms and polenta.

Eat immediately.

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