hugh's mushroom ragout with soft polenta

Of course, as soon as I say I'm home alone and will spend the next few nights studiously updating the blog, is the exact moment I come down with man 'flu which completely wipes Tuesday night out: I came home from work an hour early, went for a little pre-tidy catnap at about 1830, and was woken at 0900, fully clothed including scarf, lenses in, by work wondering where I was. Luckily I'd done enough sniffing and hacking on Tuesday to do a convincing enough impression of having the black lung, and was allowed to work from home today. In my sleeping bag.

It's massively vexing because I had planned on taking advantage of M&S' Valentine's Day £20 steak, wine and pudding offer, and eating all myself, and now I'll have to wait until next year. However, I did manage to cook tonight and it was hale and hearty in a way the Arsenal rearguard weren't, but will it be enough to cure me tomorrow?

Who cares, it was probably the best version of this dish I've made of it yet, with a decent slug of wine, some properly fleshy mushrooms and a big old fistful of herbs and seasoning to blast their way through the mucus coating my very innards. It was really warming and perking, perhaps too warming though, as I burnt my throat with my first mouthful of molten polenta. Still - aces!


sources
mushroom ragout with soft polenta - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg Everyday!, HFW, p57