Struggle Gets Dishy, Volume 1

Among the things I love best in the world, food is pretty much at the top of the list. And I don't mean that in the "I like food, and water, and breathing" kind of way, but more in the, "If I could marry food I totally would, and then I would (obviously) pull a Saturn and eat my children every day" way. But it wouldn't be weird. It would be awesome.

So in light of my love of food and my 5 years spent wasting my youth and drudging in various restaurants, I'm adding a weekly recipe component to my posts. Let me know if there is anything special you want a recipe for, say, something new to do with turkey breast, or a fun way to cook the flesh of your enemies. I'll be sure to make it strugglicious.

Polenta Pizza Pie (adapted loosely from a Self.com recipe. Shut up.)

1/2 a cup of corn meal
2 1/4 cups of water
1/2 a cup of red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 a cup of red pepper, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 3 ounce turkey sausage (or pork, if you are not a chosen person)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Boil the water and add corn meal in a thin stream, along with about a 2 teaspoons of salt. Whisk the mixture until the cornmeal has dissolved (it will initially be lumpy, don't get upset). Continue to whisk until the mixture is thickened and well blended. Pour the polenta into a greased pie pan and chill for about 20 minutes.

Remove the skin from the sausage and cook in a saucepan with cooking spray, or, if you want to be a fatty-no-friends, olive oil. In a separate saucepan, saute 2 teaspoons olive oil, the onions, peppers, two cloves of garlic and fennel seed, until the onions and peppers have just begun to soften. Place polenta pie base in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. As you are baking the polenta, dice the tomatoes and cook in a small pan with the other two cloves of garlic until the mixture is a thick, chunky sauce. Spread the sauce over the pre-baked polenta "crust", and then spread the sausage and the pepper-onion mixture on top. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Spread cheese on top, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Serve with salad, or eat it straight from the pan as you watch a Law and Order marathon on USA. Whatever feels right to you.