Polenta, Grits, Mush - what's in a name?

Hi everyone,
You know I never liked mush growing up, and grits never really appealed to me either, but as I have gotten a little more "adventurous" in what I will eat I have really started to like polenta.. I know, I know it's made of the same ingredients but somehow it seems to be better, when a braised short rib is resting on it and it is swimming in the juices...  YUM...  OK so I had this big Sirloin I wanted to cook and I didn't want risotto, or potatoes so I thought, let's try some polenta - but grill it..

So I got some coarse corn meal and followed the instructions  water, salt, cornmeal  but of course I wasn't satisfied with that so I added some Pecorino and Parm cheeses as well as some fresh thyme and rosemary and a little freshly cracked black pepper to the mix.   I then put in mini loaf pans and chilled it for 24 hours. 

I took it out and sliced it in about quarter inch thick slices and grilled it next to the Sirloin steak..

I took the Sirloin, and salted it and let it draw out some of the proteins uncovered in the fridge and then seared it very rare on the grill..   Sliced it like London broil and served it with the Grilled Polenta and some steamed broccoli....  Very tasty...   
Take a look :) 

Colorful, huh?

Ribs and other "short" stories

Well,  as promised in the last installment, I cooked and shredded the remaining chicken from the marinate/rub and made chicken enchiladas with Mole sauce.  I have to admit I did not make the mole from scratch, I used a packet -  and I thought it was OK - not great, but not bad...  The chicken was very good - sweet with a little after heat - I think that marinate recipe is a keeper.  As much as I like mole sauce, it just didn't have that silky texture I was looking for -  but I'll keep looking but if anyone has a good Mole Sauce recipe from scratch please post it! :)

Anyway, another short-rib story.  Tried the Dr. Pepper ribs again but used my Ninja to only dirty one pot.  It worked great, Seared the ribs, sweated the vegetables, deglazed, and finished in the "oven" setting all in one container and even then kept then warm by using the buffet setting when in used as a slow cooker...  Gotta say at first I thought it was a gimmick but the more I dig into what you can do with this - it is pretty cool...  Anyway recipe is out there already but the sauce you get when your strain out the vegetables, and reduce is silky, and so flavorful... You just can't beat that release of collagen that happens when you successfully extract it...  I just think if you haven't tried short ribs - this is a recipe for you... And frankly, I would even think a pot roast would be pretty good like this too..  Here's a pic...  served over Cheesy Polenta (I had this same combo in Disney during our last trip there Epcot's Italian area - sorry Mickey, mine was better :))

Oh a plug for Ikey too - Our friends at the Oswego Petsmart always have some special events for their Doggie Day camp attendees... and we always try to get Ike some time out there both to help him burn off some energy during non-hunting season as well as keeping his socialization with people and other dogs up - I really think that is one of the reasons he is so good with children and other dogs..
Anyway, they recently had, since it is the season, a "Doggie Prom" and Ike was nominated as Prom King and WON.  So he is now King Ike.... (jeez, don't let it go to his head - he already runs this castle).. Anyway here is one of the pics we submitted for voting....   Note he is a Blackhawks fan