Quick and yummy appetizers while I finish up the other dishes. Olives and proscuitto wrapped papayas. Papayas are not very Italian, but were on green tag special at the Food 4 Less. The papaya I bought weighed nearly 5 lbs. There will be a lot of papaya dishes over the next few days. There's a slight dusting of pepper on the procuitto and papayas to take away that sour smell that porcuitto often has.
Roasted fennel and cheesy polenta. The fennel dish was the sort where you chop everything up, throw it in a dish, and burble away in the oven for 45 minutes. Easy. Polenta was much more demanding. Stirring. Stirring. Stirring. Stirring. Non-stop stirring. Made from real stone ground corn meal. Not the instant stuff. I think it's worth the effort. I veered away from the recipe and made my polenta more decadent. Some herbs de provence, a few fluffs of parmegianno reggiano, chicken stock, and butter. Lots and lots of butter.
Rosemary and olive oil rubbed roast pork needs to rest. I hate this step. After 45 minutes of roasting and developing some serious flavorful crust, Pork has to sit there another 15 minutes to rest- taunting me with it's deliciousness, seductive scents wafting. I want to eat it Now Now Now Now Now. I will have to settle for the rest of the chianti.
OK, I couldn't wait the 15 minutes for the pork to rest. I gave it nearly 10. Couldn't wait any longer. This is good. Very very good. Sauce #1 is made from port and figs. Sauce #2 is the pork au jus from the roasting pan. Yummy pork juice. And polenta is perfect to sop up all the sauce. Did I mention that this was good? So good.
Panna cotta with berries. AKA cream jello. With balsamic vinegar reduction syrup. The smidgen of home made vanilla sugar makes a slight difference. But the balsamic vinegar reduction... Oh the syrup! Candy for adults...
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