Oh hey, there. What’s up? I’m Alicia Shaw, RD!!!!!!!! Nice to meet you. <– That’s right, RD. Registered Dietitian. Holy crap I did it. I passed my test and am officially an RD. I cannot believe it!!!
I have to take a small minute to thank all of my friends and family who supported me on this journey. My husband and parents who listened to my cry and whine for months as I lamented leaving a promising career to explore my true passion. My sister for being an inspiration to be myself and go after what you want. My brother for forgiving me for no longer having access months ahead to the newly released Oreos. Sorry, bro. There’s many more of you friends than I could mention here, but you know who you are. Sincerely, thank you.
Lastly, to all of my internship RD preceptors, thank you for your selflessness in allowing me to spend time with and learn from each and every one of you, all the while you had a job to do. Thank you.
Ok. Emotional rant over. Onto the food!!
What I looove about this creamy polenta is that it’s your veggie and starch all in one! It’s the only side dish you need in this meal. Two birds (veggie + starch), one stone. Fannntastic.
What makes it creamier than normally already creamy polenta is the mascarpone cheese. If you’re not familiar, mascarpone is sort of an Italian version of cream cheese. You can usually find it in a refrigerated display case near the deli counter area of your grocery store where they have the “fancy” cheeses. It’s widely available, I even found it at Walmart when I was living in Durango. If you can’t find it or just want to use cream cheese cause you have it on hand that’s fine too! It really kicks the flavor up a notch!! Tangy. Creamy. The bomb.
When shopping for this dish, don’t get confused about cornmeal versus polenta. They’re both corn products. Here’s the deal: polenta isn’t actually an ingredient, but an Italian dish. Anything labeled “polenta” in the store is just cornmeal that’s been ground to a coarseness appropriate for making polenta (which is a medium to coarse grind). That would be perfect for this dish. If you don’t see anything labeled “polenta”, just look for medium to coarsely ground cornmeal. Cornmeal comes in white, yellow, or blue. Any of these will work! I used the quick-cooking or instant type because this was a weeknight dish and I wanted it to be eeeeasy.
Though it doesn’t feel like fall yet in Denver, we’re well into September so I’m cranking up the fall food, 80-degree weather or not!! Is it still hot as heck where you are??
- 1½ cups chicken stock
- 1½ cups milk
- 1 cup polenta (or medium to coarse ground cornmeal)
- ¼ cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)
- (1) 6 oz. bag fresh baby spinach
- salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter (divided into 1 T & 1 T)
- salt and pepper
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 small onion, diced
- ⅓ cup white wine (I used chardonnay)
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons raisins
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- Bring stock and milk to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- Add polenta, turn heat down to medium, and stir until it comes together.
- Turn the heat off. Add mascarpone, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine, cover with a lid off the heat to let the spinach wilt and mascarpone fully melt in for just a couple minutes. Stir again before serving to ensure everything's fully combined.
- Heat olive oil and 1 T butter in a heavy-bottom large skillet over medium heat.
- Season the chicken thighs liberally with salt and pepper. Add to the pan and cook for 8-10 minutes until browned, then flip and cook for 3-5 more minutes or until fully cooked. Remove from pan and set aside on a plate.
- To the same pan, add the onion and cook until soft and translucent about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add white wine and cook for 1 minute, stirring and scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in chicken broth and raisins then simmer for about another minute. Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining 1 T of butter. Add the chicken back into the pan. Sprinkle with pine nuts and parsley. Serve over polenta and enjoy!
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Congrats on passing your RD exam! I just started the coordinated masters in nutrition program at the University of Minnesota so hopefully I’ll be saying the same thing in about 2 years 🙂
This looks delicious! We’re definitely having some fall weather in MN now and this sounds perfect.
Congrats on your program, Maggie! It will be a great couple years I’m sure. I learned a ton, I know you will too! Lucky you’re having some cooler weather cause a dish like this on a day like that sounds sooo good! Hope it warms you up from the inside out!