It’s Monday, and it’s been raining in Des Moines for the past three days straight.
I know we talked about comfort food last Friday with this Black Bean Quinoa Enchilada Verde Bake, but I need more comfort food in my life. So let’s just call this comfort food blog round two, shall we? Comfort food haters (do those exist?) you are not obligated to continue reading.
Despite the relentless rain this weekend, the Mr. and I managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done. The cherry on top of this achievement? None of the presents go too soaked or ruined on the way to the car! Now that our shopping is all wrapped up, we are counting down the days until we get to see our sweet families in Indiana. It’s been a year and three months since I’ve seen my sister and I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am.
But enough about me. What are your plans this Christmas? Who are you celebrating with? What are you excited about? If you’re excited about spending time with family and eating a lot of delicious food, I am right there with ya. I’m especially looking forward to chowing down a few of my mother-in-law’s twice-baked potatoes with shrimp. The recipe is Paula Deen’s but in my opinion, no one makes them as good as Heidi.
While we’re talking about seafood, let’s talk about today’s comfort-food-round-two recipe. This breaded cod and creamy polenta with sautéed spinach is the stuff dreams are made of. The texture! The crispy breadcrumbs! The cheesy polenta! It looks like something you might get in a restaurant, but believe me it’s simply enough for anyone to make at home.
When I took the first bite of this dish, I told myself to eat it slowly to enjoy and savor each bite. Five minutes later my plate was gone. Talk about total bummer! Lucky for me I have leftover polenta so you better believe I’ll be making this again for dinner tonight. Who’s with me?
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup cheese (use dairy-free for vegan option)
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
- [br]
- [b]For the fish:[/b]
- 2 cod fillets
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 slice bread
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 cups spinach
- [b]For the polenta: [/b] In a medium saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil. Pour cornmeal into boiling water and whisk until polenta is thickened. Turn heat to low, cover and cook polenta 30-40 minutes. Stir about every 5 minutes, making sure to scrape the entire pan. (Cook 30 minutes for softer porridge-like polenta or 40 minutes for thicker polenta.)
- While polenta is cooking, preheat oven to 425° F, grease a baking dish and set aside. Sprinkle cod with salt and pepper and place it in the baking dish. Mix together butter and lemon juice and drizzle over cod.
- Place slice of bread in a food processor and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs, about 5 times. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and parsley. Sprinkle the mixture over the cod and bake until bread crumbs are crisp and cod flakes easily with a fork, about 12 minutes.
- Saute spinach in a greased, nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Stir cheese and butter into polenta. Divide polenta, fish and spinach between two plates and serve immediately (polenta will harden after it is done cooking!).