Pumpkin Polenta With Italian Sausage and Fennel

"November/December 2005 RR magazine. Looks great for Fall dinners!"
 
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photo by FLKeysJen photo by FLKeysJen
photo by FLKeysJen
photo by FLKeysJen photo by FLKeysJen
Ready In:
32mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and brown the sausage.
  • Transfer the sausage to a paper towel-lined plate.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of EVOO (1 turn of the pan) to the skillet and then the onion and fennel.
  • Cook the vegetables over moderate heat until tender but not brown.
  • Add the wine and return the sausage to the skillet.
  • Cook the wine away, a minute or so.
  • In a large saucepan, bring the chicken stock and butter to a boil and stir in the pumpkin.
  • Return to a boil, whisk in the polenta and stir until it masses together, 2 minutes (Watch out for splatters.)
  • Remove the polenta from the heat and stir in the nutmeg, thyme, salt, pepper and Pecorino Romano cheese.
  • Top the pumpkin polenta with the sausage and fennel.
  • Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.

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Reviews

  1. This recipe was wonderful! It reheated very well the next day so the leftovers made great lunches for my husband and me. We will definitely be making this again. It was so creamy and satisfying. Real comfort food! I had to sub Parmesan for the pecorino romano and I used vermouth instead of white wine, only because I didn't have the original ingredients on hand.
     
  2. So it wasn't very pretty, but it WAS VERY YUMMY!!! Wowowowow. I used reduced fat sausage, left out the EVOO & butter, and used parmesan because I had a bag full of it and needed to use it! SO. VERY. DELICIOUS!!! I can not say enough about the taste! And you are not kidding about watching out for boiling polenta. I burned the FIRE out of my hand! Awwww... but it's okay, my mouth is happy :-) I'm definitely making this again, and may try adding other veggies to up the oomph.
     
  3. This was a delicious recipe!! All of the flavors go so well together. I loved how the polenta turned a nice light orange color with the addition of the pumpkin. The only change I made to this recipe is that I went with a chicken italian sausage. I could sit and eat a huge bowl of this! Thanks for a great recipe. Its a keeper.
     
  4. Thank you for a wonderful recipe! Well, at least I thought so! It's not often that DH and I completely disagree on a recipe, but we did on this one. I absolutely love the polenta. I used regular polenta, and it was worth it. The pumpkin flavor is subtle in it, but oh so good! (Pumpkin squashes are very subtle in flavor anyway. They provide a very valuable texture and a lovely color, though, as they do in this recipe.) We used HOT turkey sausage, which was appropriate for our diet and preferences, and added about 3/4 pound of cubed bnls/skls chicken breast, too, for extra protein. I would love even MORE fennel (and I would skip the chicken, because the sausage flavor is SO good!). I was tempted to add the chopped fennel "hair" to the polenta... but didn't. I'd love to make it again, but Gato said it didn't work AT ALL for him. To each their own! LOL!
     
  5. Just made this for our dinner and, although it was really nice, the disappointment was that we couldn't taste the pumpkin at all. This was after getting an organic pumpkin, roasting it in fresh Italian herbs from our garden and olive oil and making our own puree. The polenta needed a lot more seasoning (even though I used my own chicen stock and also added fresh herbs from the garden to this). However, the combination of the fennel (again from our garden), beautiful fennel and pepper Italian sausages (from the deli), onions and polenta was really good.
     
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