Ugly Food

Posted: December 6, 2009 | Author: Johanna | Filed under: Johanna | No Comments »

I have written before about what I call “ugly food” — things like pot roast, and beef stew, and ragu, anything with lentils in it, most things that prominently feature greens…. things that are delicious, and restorative, nurturing, but don’t necessarily photograph well.

These of course comprise some of my favorite foods. And they’re never beautiful, and that makes them hard to photograph. Someday, I’ll get over my phobia and realize that you, readers, will see the food the way I see it…. beautiful on the inside, outside be damned.
On a cool and drizzly night, after a thoroughly interesting workday and evening of activities, Jesse and I reviewed our dinner plan for the week and decided to go with a prime example of ugly food:

Sausage Ragu over Parmesan Polenta (or in my case, mixed in with parmesan polenta by the time I found the camera).

This dish was made with some absolutely amazing sausage from Harry’s Homemade, that had mozzarella and broccoli rabe in it. While an onion was sauteing and softening in a little olive oil, I removed the sausage from its casings and started to break it up. Then, I added it to the pan with the onion, using my handy-dandy potato masher to break the sausage up. Once the sausage pieces cooked through, I seasoned with salt and pepper, and added about half a cup of chicken stock. Maybe more.
Once the stock and sausage reached a simmer, I turned my attention to super duper creamy buttery polenta with a ton of grated cheese in it. There’s really no recipe, which is lucky because on this particular night, I felt no desire to follow directions to get dinner.
This was warm, and comforting, and honestly exactly the thing for a cold drizzly night when you’re fed up and hungry.

And the best part is, with a fried egg on top, the leftovers made a bitchin’ Saturday breakfast.