Slovenian Recipes

The heat wave finally broke in Cleveland; it is a beautiful, sunny day with cool temperatures in the high 60s. I had an hour between picking up and dropping of my kids at their various activities, and since it was so gorgeous outside, I decided to go to one of my favorite places:  The Westside Market. I didn't have anything specific in mind to buy but knew that it would be well worth my time. The beauty of going to the market is that the vegetables look so fresh and vibrant, and you can rely on them tasting just as good as they look. This trip to the Market did not disappoint. My first pick of the day was a huge organic sweet onion bulb . It caught my eye as soon as I walked up to my favorite stand. I knew immediately that dinner would consist of veggies grilled in my grill basket and topped with one of CW2C's vinaigrettes.  I love this time of summer when it is so easy to find such wonderful produce. Grilling the veggies so they get that chargrilled flavor with a ni...

Until today I thought I did not like polenta. My memory of polenta is far from positive. I was served a big bowl of this mushy mixture that reminded me of a breakfast dish. Did I mention it was lunch? I swore I would never eat it again or put my kids through that same awful experience. As the saying goes, never say never. My mom ate polenta prepared in a new way (to her) at a restaurant recently and wanted to recreate the recipe at home. She knew that if we both were going to enjoy the polenta it would have to be sautéed in olive oil to make sure that it was nice and crunchy rather than creamy. (Or as I describe it. Mushy!) To ensure success I asked the advice of my friend Karen, "the polenta queen." Karen always makes polenta for her husband; he grew up eating it often and he loves it. I needed to know if my polenta expert had any tips or secrets for the perfect polenta. Her recipe was similar to my mom's, but she shared a technique for achieving the texture we were a...