This recipe for Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms, Garlic and Sage is cozy and comforting, perfect for chilly fall and winter days. It can be made with chanterelle mushrooms if you have access to them –or really any mushroom you have on hand. Even conventional button, shiitake or cremini mushrooms work well here.
Chanterelles grow here in the Pacific Northwest during the cooler fall months. They live among the trees, in the dense and foggy forests of Douglas Firs and Western Hemlocks. Woody and earthy with a hint of fruitiness. Their texture is meaty… yet tender. They are difficult to cultivate, so most of the fresh chanterelles you see, truly are “wild”. This is why you don’t usually find them any other time of year. And this is what makes them extra special. When handling them, somehow you can’t help but feel the forest they came from.
There is so much you can do with chanterelles. They are really delicious with pasta and risotto, in quiches, omelets or lasagna, where they are not overwhelmed by too many other ingredients. They can get lost easily so I try to make them the focus of whatever I am making with them. When paired with a creamy bed of soft polenta they are the perfect comfort food. Deeply satisfying…especially on days like this.
When choosing chanterelles…make sure they are a nice golden apricot color. They should be firm to touch and have no dark or slimy parts on them. Their gills should look in tact and clean. Chantrelles may hold quite a bit of debree (twigs, pine needles and dirt) in their tops because they grow among trees and brambles… so cleaning may be a chore.
A tip: when buying them, try to pick chantrelles that are already clean and that have less of a pocket at the top and this will make your job much easier. They can be found around town at stores locally Huckleberry’s , the Main Market Co OP, the Rocket Market ….and sometimes, even believe it or not, at Costco! I usually call around before I get my car. The nice thing is they are growing in popularity, so they are becoming easier to find. They are not inexpensive, but worth a splurge at least once a year.
I have found that the best way to cook Chanterelles is either to sauté them or simply roast them in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and serve with simple ingredients so their flavor and texture are allowed to shine.
I really love them served over Creamy Polenta or pasta.
Creamy Polenta is basically an Italian dish made from ground cornmeal. It’s cooked into a porridge and seasoned with butter, cheese and herbs. Below is a basic recipe for Creamy Polenta that you can modify based on your preferences. This basic Creamy Polenta recipe works well in other applications too … for example served with braised short ribs, or pan seared prawns, grilled Salmon or halibut or even as something as simple as roasted veggies. It’s a good recipe to tuck away because it goes with so many things.
Start the polenta first and let it cook on the stove while you prepare the mushrooms.
When preparing your mushrooms, instead of rinsing or washing them, try to brush the dirt away as much as possible with your fingers or a brush without getting them wet. If you absolutely must rinse them, pat them dry as much as possible and use them right away (don’t store wet mushrooms). After they are clean, tear them into to larger sized pieces. Remember they shrink a lot when you cook them.
Saute them in a heavy bottomed pan or skillet with oil or a combination of oil and butter…being careful to not over crowd. You want them to have space to brown slightly. You could also add garlic for flavor and sage, rosemary or thyme.
Once your polenta is cooked.. it’s time to have fun. Experiment with different cheeses and add a little butter. If you are vegan you could try adding olive oil and nutritional yeast which will give a nice richness.
I added goat cheese (because it was what I had on hand). Any meltable cheese would work. Some of my favorites with creamy polenta are parmesan, cheddar, gorgonzola and smoked gouda. You can even use sour cream.
Then taste for salt. Because cheeses have different saltiness, the amount of salt you will need will vary. If you used a flavorful stock you may not even need much salt. But most likely you will need a little.
Here is a lovely ingredient that will elevate your polenta. If you don’t have it on hand, substitute fresh black pepper, but the next time you are at the store, pick some up and try it. You can buy whole white peppercorns and grind them with mortar and pestle if you don’t want to devote your pepper mill to them.
I could do a whole post on white pepper because I have grown to love it so much. White pepper has a completely different flavor than regular black pepper.
It has a haunting sort of mustiness that I am very drawn to. I especially like using it in the colder months. It’s hard to describe, but give it a try and see if you like it. Perhaps it is an acquired taste.
I use it often in creamy soups, in hummus and with white winter vegetables like parsnips and cauliflower.
White pepper is basically fully ripened pepper berries (the same kind as black peppercorns -which are not fully ripe) that are then soaked for several weeks to remove dark outer skin. I believe it is the longer ripening period that deepens the flavor and perhaps the soaking of the berries that gives the unique musty taste. It somehow tastes aged…. but in a good way.
After you have stirred in your butter, cheese and your polenta is creamy and seasoned to your liking, place it in bowls with a generous amount of chanterelles over top. If you are feeling extra luxurious, drizzle a little truffle oil just before serving. Then inhale.
Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms, Sage and Goat Cheese
Creamy Polenta with Mushrooms, Garlic and Sage- and simple hearty vegetarian meal, perfect for chilly fall nights.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 2-3
- Category: Vegetarian Main
- Method: stove-top
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 4 ½ c veggie or chicken stock ( or sub water with 1 tsp salt, or sub 2 cups of the stock with milk)
- 1 cup polenta
- 1/2 cup grated cheese ( goat cheese, white cheddar, parmesan, romano)
- 1 T butter
- 1/8 tsp white pepper
- salt to taste
- 1/ 2 teaspoon Truffle oil ( optional)
- Mushrooms
- 2 cups chanterelles (or morels, button, cremini, shittake or portobellos)
- 1-2 T oil and butter
- 2 cloves garlic ( or onion or shallot)
- 1 T fresh herbs ( sage, rosemary or thyme)
- finishing salt
- Garnish- drizzle of truffle oil ( optional- but worth it! )
Instructions
- To make the creamy polenta, heat 4 1/2 Cups of flavorful stock ( or salted water or use part milk) in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn heat down to low or off to avoid getting splattered. Gradually add 1 C polenta to the hot liqud while whisking vigorously to avoid any clumping. Cover and let cook on very low heat for 20 mins before adding any “fats”. Somehow this allows the polenta to “open up” . If you are using a course polenta you could cook longer. You could even cover the pot and stick in a 350F oven for 45 min-1hour. You can stir every 5- 10 minutes if you want, but I normally just cover it leave it without a stir and it is just fine.
- When the polenta has cooked, then add your choice of cheese, butter, white pepper, and adjust for salt.
- To cook the mushrooms, heat butter and oil over med-high heat, add mushrooms, cook 2 minutes, then turn heat down to medium and cook until they are nicely browned.
- Add coarsely chopped garlic towards the end ( so it does not burn) and sage. Salt to taste.
- Serve atop your bed of delicious creamy polenta with fresh herbs.
- Drizzle with Truffle oil if you want.
10
i just bought my first bag of chanterelles and this sounds like the perfect recipe! Thanks for the vegan options for polenta too 🙂
Confession: I’ve never cooked polenta, ever. But seeing this recipe, so wonderfully uncomplicated yet delicious, made me realise I HAVE to try polenta. So tomorrow is polenta-day 🙂
You are going to LOVE it!
Beautiful post! Chanterelles and sage sounds heavenly.
thank you Adam!
Lovely post Sylvia but I have a few comments to share. First, chanterelles can be found from coast to coast. We spent twenty years picking them in the pacific northwest and recently decided to retire in Maine. Yesterday, here in Maine, we picked three pounds of chanterelles, a half pound of hedgehog mushrooms (a type of chanterelle) and a few lovely king boletes. And in Maine, mid-September is late for chanterelles. They can by found in early July and through the summer months. And I question anyone ever using truffle oil. Most chefs think it should be banned from the planet as there are more terrible ones out there than good. Also, it’s flavor can greatly overpower the lovely floral apricot scent of the chanterelles. Your recipe is spot-on and keep the truffle oil away from this dish where the star should be the chanterelle. Thanks for the post and terrific pictures.
Lovely post, but there are lots of chanterelles in across the country. Here in Maine we picked three pounds yesterday in 90 minutes (plus king boletes and hedgehog mushrooms). And remember…a friend never lets a friend use truffle oil. Especially on delicate chanterelles. Other than that, your recipe looks spot-on. With yesterday’s schrooms all cleaned, and the garden full of sage, you helped me find tonights dinner. And I loved the info on white pepper. Thanks.
Congratulations on your exciting news! I LITERALLY just read this recipe in my Cook’s Illustrated and am planning to make it today. What a coincidence when I then saw it on your site!