Mushrooms With Polenta

This is a recipe born of a trip to Tate Modern.... I often pick up recipes by just sampling some excellent dishes when I am out and about. This recipe just shows how food served at some of our great art establishments has so changed.... I cannot really imagine that this could have been on the menu at an art gallery 20 years ago... but here it is pride of place on the excellent menu at the Tate Modern in London.... so I freely acknowledge that I have pinched this from Tate Modern and made it my own...

Ingredients
(Serves 2)

Portion of mushrooms - chestnut mushrooms (the best you can get - sliced)
3/4 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

500g polenta
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tbsp butter
Spinach (a couple of good handfuls removing any large stalks and slice finely)
Seasoning and oil

1. Cook the polenta with the vegetable stock according to the packet... should take about 20-30 minutes... you can buy a quick cook polenta which will change the timings. You will need to keep stirring it periodically.
2. Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and heat gently. Put in the sliced mushrooms and gently fry for about 5 minutes.
3. Next put in your spinach and cook for another 5 minutes.... you are looking for the spinach to wilt and combine with the mushrooms a little.
4. Meanwhile take another pan and gently bring the balsamic vinegar to the boil.. your aim is to produce a thick, viscous syrup of vinegar.... (Be warned - to put your kitchen extractor fan on because this could get eye-watering!)
5. Moving back to your polenta... you should have a thick gluey mix.... add the butter (or you can use olive oil) and give it a good stir.  
6. Season your polenta and your mushrooms to taste.
7. Dollop the polenta on the plate and top with your vegetable mixture.
8. Take you thick balsamic vinegar and drizzle around the plate.....

This is a great dish dependent on the quality of the ingredients... so it has to be the best mushrooms you can buy.

Flavour - A New Online Food Journal

Browsing the internet can always be advantageous especially when you come across a new online journal dedicated to the study of food; plus it is free! I was fascinated to read about how food aroma can affect the bite sizes that people take.... I can appreciate this in regard to eating particularly smelly foods like pungent cheeses or recently when I tasted fermented soya beans (I will write a separate post some day about that). There are several articles on seaweed; from taste testing varieties of seaweed to find a European equivalent to konbu to a generalized exploration of the uses of seaweed in cuisine world-wide and the beneficial effects.  This looks to be a good resource in the future.  Anyway find it at http://www.flavourjournal.com/content