Squash, polenta and all that!

Polenta is a great and cheap carb fix
that is such a good base for flavours and sauces.
I quickly put this together yesterday using half a squash, a handful of frozen peas, a few leftover mushrooms and a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Polenta flour weighs in around 99p for a kilo and for two you just need two good tablespoons or there abouts, so plenty left out of a £1 for many good meals to come.
I've been foraging for herbs so my flavours were free as the breeze with my pickings of wild marjoram, rosemary and thyme.

So how to make the polenta:-
1. Put some oil in a pan and heat and then add your polenta flour (two tablespoons) and briskly stir.
2. Gradually add water a bit at a time until you get the consistency of porridge a its thickly bubbling away
3.Add salt a good dose of herbs for flavour and stir well.
4.Pour the polenta porridge in to a sandwich box and cool for a couple of hours.
5. When ready to make the dish, turn the polenta out and slice or cut into cubes and reheat in an oven or on a griddle whilst the sauce is being cooked.

Now the sauce:
1.Cube half a squash and a whole onion and sweat off in a heavy based pan with oil, pinch of salt and pepper.
2.When the squash starts to soften stir in a cup of frozen peas and a couple of chopped mushrooms.
3.After a further 2 minutes add a tin of chopped tomatoes and continue cooking until the whole medley reduces into a thick sauce.

Serve immediately by spooning the sauce over the reheated polenta.

Remember 'national sprout a lentil day' ? Well I serve the polenta dish up with some sprouted lentils and vinegar toasted peanuts. For you peanuts just dry toast them in a pan and at the last minute drizzle some nice vinegar in along with a pinch of salt and sugar to give them a vinegar caramel coating.