Big Waves Still Scare Me. Meatballs With Polenta Don't.

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be comfortable with big waves that have some real energy. Like Sunday, for example, there was a powerful WNW swell that was producing good-sized waves. I'm talking waves that are over the head, and in sets that come fast in between periods of calm. It was kind of hard to tell from predictions exactly what I'd face if I headed to the beach, but I decided to go anyway, because you just never know until you stand there and see with your own eyes what's what. Also deceptive is seeing the ocean from a distance, or even the parking lot. You still can't tell until you get closer, and even then conditions can be deceptive. Like I said, there were periods of relative calm so when I first walked up, the ocean looked completely flat, with a bunch of surfers just perched on their boards waiting. I though, great…perfect conditions to paddle out. Then came waves. Big waves. Not huge, mind you, but big enough that I knew it was totally out of my comfort zone. Did it stop me from paddling out? Yeah, it did. Did I give up? Not completely. First I left the board on the beach and just dove into the water to splash around a little. Then I practiced some pop-ups in the whitewash. Getting pretty good at those, by the way!

Heading home, though, I was kind of beating up on myself for being a wuss and in need of some comfort food. Somewhere I'd seen recently a dish of meatballs and sauce not with spaghetti the way you usually  see it, but over polenta. That sounded like it would hit the spot, and here's the results:

I've used all different sorts of combinations to make meatballs, but one of my favorites is dark meat ground turkey mixed with pork sausage of some kind from McCall's Meat and Fish. This time I used their Fennel-Thyme sausage along with the turkey. If you want to know how to do it, read on. Oh, a note about polenta. I've always been confused over what is the difference between the rather pricey bags of instant polenta imported from Italy you often come across, and just regular old cornmeal. Well, I did a little research and learned there really isn't much of a difference. Yes, there are differences in the type and grind of cornmeals, and this can determine how long you'd cook your polenta. But if you're buying those instant polentas, you can substitute regular old corn meal, and I did that since we had some in the pantry.

Turkey and Sausage Meatballs In Marinara Sauce Over Polenta
(serves 4)

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 tbsps. olive olive oil, divided
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 28 oz and 1 14 oz. can peeled tomatoes (preferably Cento)
3 sprigs fresh Basil, plus more for serving
1 1/4 pounds ground dark meat turkey
1 large or 2 small Italian Sausage, casing removed
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup grated Pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (more if needed)
1 large egg
Salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Pour tomatoes and their juices into a bowl and crush with your hands. In a medium sized deep skillet or saucepan heat olive oil. When hot, add diced onion. Saute, stirring until onion turns translucent. Add minced garlic, red pepper flakes and continue cooking another minute or so. Add the tomatoes to the pot. Season liberally with salt and fresh ground pepper, drop in the 3 sprigs of basil and bring to a simmer. Cook sauce, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have broken down and sauce has thickened, about 20-25 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl place ground turkey, sausage meat, chopped parsley, grated cheese, bread crumbs and egg. Season with a teaspoon of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Use your hands to mix everything together until smooth. If mixture seems too wet, add a little more bread crumbs,  but not too much or the meatballs will be dry. Form mixture into golfball-sized balls.
3. Heat remaining 2 tbsps. olive oil in a large skillet, preferably non-stick. When oil is hot, lower in meatballs. Cook until nicely browned on all sides. Transfer browned meatballs to pot of sauce. Bring sauce and meatballs back to a slow simmer, and this is important: try not to disturb them for at least he first five minutes or so of simmering, otherwise you are in danger of breaking up the meatballs. Simmer meatballs in sauce for 25 minute. Check sauce again for seasoning. Serve over polenta and sprinkle with chopped basil and more fresh grated Pecorino

Polenta (adapted from the back of the Albers Corn Meal Box)

(serves 4-6)

3 1/2 cups water, divided
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

1. In a small saucepan, add salt to 2 1/2 cups of the water. Bring to a boil. Mix cornmeal with remaining water in small bowl
2. Add cornmeal mixture to boiling water slowly, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer polenta about five minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Here's a little look at the process, starting with all meatball ingredients in the bowl. Again, the best way to mix this up is by hand, so get in there and do it. Just don't forget to wash your hands in warm, soapy water when you're done!

Now it's on to browning the meatballs. Some people do this in the oven, and I've tried it that way, but I've found the way I like best is browning them in olive oil. Turn them gently but sometimes they'll lose a little of their shape. Not to worry.

Finally here are the meatballs simmering away in the sauce.

So if you're looking for a real comforting dish, meatballs over polenta should fit the bill. Of course you can also serve these with Spaghetti, or in a meatball sub, with lots of melted cheese on top. That's really good too.

Remember for the best in-house made sausage in town, hit up McCall's in Los Feliz:  www.mccallsmeatandfish.com