Slovenian Recipes

Our afternoon in the kitchen. Chop pancetta into bite size pieces. While the pancetta is getting crispy, prepare the garlic oil/butter. Slice shiitake and portobello mushrooms (or the mushrooms of your choice). Add mushrooms to a heated skillet. When soft and browned, deglaze pan with your favorite port. Load up the ciabatta bread with the toppings you prepared. Bake at 400 degrees for   4-6 minutes. Toss arugula and spinach with a swirl of violet balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a few grinds of sea salt and lemon pepper. Top the warm ciabatta with the dressed greens. Enjoy as light lunch shared on a sunny afternoon or as the perfect side for your family dinner.

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...