Two of the promised recipes!

Turns out, I lied about the salad -- still haven't done it.  Ah, well. :)  The lettuce is the crisper and should keep a little longer. Let me tell you about the two of the things I did accomplish, instead.  I should tell you, I don't do very precise directions.  I can tell you approximately what I did and how it turned out, though.

Roasted Beets and Carrots (inspired by Cin's comment on my first post)

Ingredients:
Large bunch of carrots (probably a dozen and a half small to medium carrots)
Beets (I had a pretty small bunch, 4 medium ones.  Could have used double that, really)
Garlic (I used 6 heads of green garlic, which is probably equivalent to half a head of older garlic)
olive oil to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.  Peel carrots and chop into bite-size chunks (those turned out better than the few thinner bits I had).  Peel beets (save the greens!) and chop into bite size chunks (if your beets are really small, quarters are probably fine.  Mine were larger).  If using green garlic, peel the top layer of skin and chop off the green ends (save them!).  Chop the garlic into biggish chunks -- they'll taste better that way. Toss everything with salt, pepper, and enough olive oil to coat the lot.  Spread on a baking sheet, in a single layer if possible.  Roast for about an hour, turning over at the 30 minute mark.  Serve immediately, makes a great snack!

I'm not sure how many servings this is -- it's really a side dish or snack, though Mu and I ate pretty much all of it as dinner. 

Tip of the recipe: save the beet greens, they can come in handy later!

Polenta with Zucchini, Tomato, and Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 medium zucchini
6-8 tomatoes (you can probably use canned tomatoes here with no real difference.  I'd guess 2 cans would do it)
1-1.5 pounds of common mushrooms (I used brown, you can use white, too)
a handful of dried porcini (this is optional, but even a small amount of dried porcini makes everything taste a little like porcini)
onion/green onion/green garlic greens (I used the latter, given my CSA share, but any of these will work for a little extra flavor)
1 can olives (optional, but I love them.  I just used a can of plain black olives, I don't think the fancy ones are necessary since it's all cooked)
olive oil, salt, red pepper to taste
white wine to taste (for sauce, obviously, though I like to sip as I go :) )

Polenta (from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" book)
1/2 cup milk (whole is best, but anything will do)
2 cups water
1 cup coarse cornmeal
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse your dried porcinis, put them in a small bowl of boiling water (enough to cover them), and let them soak for about 30 minutes.  In the meantime, trim and slice the zucchini (I like to do half circle slices for smaller zucchinis, or quarter circles for larger ones).  Core and quarter the tomatoes.  Carefully wash and pat dry the mushrooms, then slice them.  You can slice the stems, as well, though if they're very long, I usually chop the long bit off.  Chop your onion/whatever you're using. :)  In a reasonably large saute pan over medium high heat, heat some olive oil, then saute the onion until it's gotten softer, about 2-3 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for a minute or 2, 'till it cooks down.  Drain and add the porcinis and the tomatoes.  Salt and pepper, add a splash of wine and a little water, then turn heat to medium low and cover.

While the sauce is simmering, start the polenta. Combine milk and water in small saucepan over medium heat and bring almost to a boil.  Slowly, whisk or stir in cornmeal.  Salt and pepper, but not too much.  Bring heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Polenta should be reasonably thick at the end.

While polenta is cooking, check on the sauce.  When zucchini and mushrooms are tender and tomatoes have broken down, uncover.  Add olives and saute until liquid reduces (if you want more of a wine taste, you can add another splash). I like to add crushed red pepper for some spice at this point.  When it's almost gone, add polenta (if you want, you can also just finish it off and serve it over the polenta).  Cook for another few minutes, stirring to coat the polenta evenly.  Adjust seasonings as needed and serve!

This yielded us 6 servings, I believe.

Tip of the recipe: dried mushrooms are awesome!  I got a pound of Asian Porcini, and while they're a little pricy, they also last forever.  A handful goes a long way towards adding flavor, so I feel like they're a pretty good deal overall. 

Tomorrow, minestrone-type soup!