The Patient cooks

The Patient made the most wonderful polenta for dinner tonight. Here's his recipe, copied from something he found in the NY Times. This is incredibly creamy and smooth. I would say only to watch the salt. I don't use any salt in my food and this seemed a tad salty, but perhaps that's just my palate. Enjoy!

EGG AND GRUYERE POLENTA

1 c finely ground yellow cornmeal
3 T minced onion
3 T unsalted butter
1 t salt
¼ t pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1½ c grated Gruyère cheese

Heat over to 400 degrees.

Bring 3½ c water to simmer. Gradually stir in the cornmeal and onion with a wooden spoon. Simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Stir often.

Stir in the butter, salt, pepper, eggs and 1 cup of the cheese.

Spread the mixture evenly in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake until the topping is melted and golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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You can see that the Patient is back in the kitchen and restless to do what he loves best: COOK. But here's the rub. During his down time, I have moved back into the kitchen doing what I LOVE to do. I had about five months of doing all the cooking, mainly for myself. The question at hand? Who gets to wear the chef's hat now that he is gettiing back into shape? Perhaps we need to have two hats. We will soon be at the beach where I do all the shopping and the division of labor is more even. When we return in May we can have this fight. As for now, I am thrilled that he is even interested in food, eating, cooking, shopping, reading and clipping recipes.

It's still raining. We have had about 2" of rain in the valley since last night. Tomorrow, providing it's not storming wildly, we have to go Sact'o to buy a new garage door opener. Ours died today. The last one I bought in 1996 while Jim was yukking it up in Kenya and I was keeping the home fires burning. The current mechanism has done good work and it's not too early to replace it.

Two movies on hand: Million Dollar Baby and Blow Up. The first I have never seen. The second I remember watching at some theatre in Berkeley where the seats were held together with pre-chewed gum and flea collars on the ankles were a must. Critiques to follow.