Parmesan Polenta and Spicy Sausage Sauce

I found this to be uninspiring. Sure, the sauce was good, but there are a million red sauce recipes out there. I couldn't find quick cooking polenta, so ended up with the pre-made stuff in a tube. I didn't really know what to do with it, so sliced and friend it. I don't think that did the dish any flavors. Whether I ruined it or not, I won't be saving this one.

I thought this recipe was delicious and the sauce was great as is! I couldn't find the sun dried tomato chicken sausage so instead used a spinach feta chicken sausage. I added the full 1/2 cup of Parmesan to the polenta and also added some garlic powder. On recommended, I made sautéed spinach with it. Will definitely make this again (and probably use the sauce recipe for other dishes too!)

Easy to prepare, make some changes for personal taste, especially some wine and veggies like chard or spinach, and fill your belly with goodness.

Once the polenta is prepared, set it in a screen strainer lined with a clean dish towel; let stand for 30 minutes, then use a 1/4 cup to scoop the polenta.  Add the scoops to a heated, lightly oiled pan & saute for 4 - 6 minutes per side.

This intensifies the flavors & crisps the polenta.

Might be worth a shot

This was sooo good and easy. My family truly loved it. Thanks

This one was hard to review since we found out with this recipe that my husband doesn't like soft prepared polenta, and I had to eat this as many leftovers as a result.  I did find it good and easy to make.  Not great though, but a good basic hearty recipe.  Definitely hearty and it does reheat well, both the sauce and polenta that I packaged up separately as leftovers.  If I were in the mood to try it again, I might try freezing the extra portions and see how it reheats, it should do well, and then I don't have to eat it every day for a week!

Bland, so I made some changes. Couldn't find the sun dried tomato chicken sausage, used roasted pepper & asiago chicken sausage also added extra lean ground turkey; not enough meat for me. Sauce was soupy after simmering; put a tablespoon of tomato paste, also added garlic salt and dried italian seasoning; still bland.

I made this with hot Italian turkey sausage and the premade tube of polenta from the produce section. It was delicious! I will make this again and again.

Yumm, I liked this alot, I couldn't find a sun dried tomato chickens sausage, so I used another chicken sausage, but added my own sun dried tomatoes.

Delicious! Very easy. Made as stated and I don't think I would change anything. Served spinach sautéed with shallots and added pine nuts. I would serve this to company also. I did chop everything and grated the cheese earlier in the day, so preparation was very quick. Instant polenta is the way to go--quick, easy and very tasty.

Could not find quick-cooking polenta so used the prepared polenta in the tube and pan fried it in a little bit of olive oil - sauce is quick to assemble and gets better the longer you let it simmer. Served with grilled eggplant and zucchini for some veggies :)

Loved it!! Very yummy!

This was really good with some additions. As suggested by some, used 3 links and some wine. I doubled the garlic, added tarragon, 2 T. Trader Joes Sun Dried Tomato Pesto along with some extra sun dried tomatoes. I cannot get quick polenta here. Reg. polenta microwaves beautifully. 3/4 cups polenta, 2 cups water, 1 cup milk & a T. fresh minced garlic along with the parm. cheese. Mix it up and microwave on high for 8 min. Take it out & stir briskly. Can put it back in for 2 min. if you want it thicker. I put it in a loaf pan to cool then slice thickly & saute in a little oil until golden. Yum!

This was a quick and easy weeknight meal. Very tasty. Served with spinach and garlic toast. I will make this one again.

This was a great recipe. It only feed 3 of us because we all came back for seconds. This recipe will definately make the way into the regular dinner rotation.

This was really good! I upped the parmesan in the polenta just a bit and added one extra sausage as others suggested and I'm glad I did. I used roasted red pepper chicken sausage and it worked great. I would definitely make this again.

Made to recipe using turkey sausage. Only change was to add all the cheese to the polenta, rather than reserving some to top the sauce. Served with salad & the recommended spinach. Nice change from pasta & sauce.

This was excellent! Used hot italian turkey sausage instead and left out the crushed red pepper. I added a little black pepper to both the sausage sauce and the polenta for flavor. Served with steamed fresh green beans! Very satisfying and tasty.

I loved this recipe! I couldn't find "quick-cooking polenta" so I just used a tube of the prepared polenta and simmered that on medium with one can of fat free chicken broth, using a hand potato masher to cream the polenta. Was easy and came out great!! Everything else with the recipe was right on point!

I really enjoyed this dish, as did my boyfriend. I did simmer the sauce longer than the recipe called for (before I added the basil), and I cheated a bit and used the roll of polenta instead because I couldn't find any quick-cooking polenta and I needed to cook this quickly. Still, it was awesome. I did add some tomato paste as other reviewers suggested. I used a bit more chicken sausage than called for, and I got bulk spicy Italian chicken sausage which was awesome. We both loved it and I'll definitely make it again, although I will do the polenta myself next time instead of cheating.

Having a vegetarian grandson over, I made this with a soy chorizo and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Everybody thought it was delicious. I did think the polenta was a bit stickier than I expected. I used 'instant' polenta rather than 'quick cooking' so perhaps that was the difference.

Very flavorful recipe! Fresh basil and good parmesan really intensify the flavors. My husband is a little picky and I have never made polenta for him before, but he really enjoyed this. We made the recipe as suggested, with the sauteed spinach and pine nuts. Served it with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc....delicious! I will make this again. It was too spicy for my kids, so had to come up with an alternate menu for them. That was the only downfall I could find.

Delicious & easy. I couldn't find the exact sausage so settled on another smoked chicken sausage with mozerella in it and added chopped sundried tomatoes to the sauce. The red wine mentioned by other reviewers would be a good addition and I will definitely try next time. This is my new favorite way of cooking polenta - turned out much better than recipes I've tried using half milk/half water as the liquid!

Good recipe - used Trader Joe chicken sausage (precooked) quantity as directed and a bag of sliced cremini mushrooms, doubled oregano, increased garlic by several gloves. Added white wine to the onion/mushrooms, let it cook down then added garlic, etc. Put all of parm cheese in polenta with 1/4 teas of ground black pepper and it cut the chicken broth flavor. Since it was just me and hubby, had plenty for leftovers. Sauce was better second day. Cut leftover polenta and fried it in pan coated with cooking spray. 23 yr old son (picky eater) joined us for leftovers and loved it. Avoided hi sodium additions listed in other posts and it was fine.

Super yummy! I add a few dried Italian seasonings along with the fresh. My family loves the polenta.

I usually eat my mush fried, but this was very tasty. I made the recipe as written, but couldn't find the dried tomato sausage so used Italian chicken sausage instead.

I made this as directed except that I had a different flavor chicken sausage because they didn't have sun-dried tomato at the store and that I accidentally dumped in more red pepper flakes. I thought it was great, even with the extra kick from the pepper (or maybe because of that!). Served with a salad and was a big hit. Definitely will make again.

Perfect amount of spice. I used 3 links of sausage rather than the 2 in the recipe and simmered the sauce for 30 minutes rather than 15.

This was delicious, but I definitely did what other reviewers did and added some red wine and fire roasted tomatoes since me and my hubby like things spicy. I used store bought already made polenta and added some milk and Parmesan cheese to it to make it more creamy. I think it is a good sauce that would really work well with any type of pasta too.

This was a decent recipe, but wasn't the WOW I thought it would be.

I am becoming an even bigger fan of the polenta! This recipe was spicy and rich. The textures melded well. I would definitely make this again.

YUM! We will definitely make it again but with more sausage and I will try to use some milk in the polenta instead of some of the water. The spicy sausage sauce would be great over pasta as well.

The sauce was really great. I used 2 links of spinach and feta chicken sausage. I think next time I'll use more. Also, it made the house smell like heaven :)

This recipe was really good. I have to say the sauce was the best part along with the turkey sausage, but could have done without the polenta. The polenta was lacking flavor and the texture of the sauce didn't mix well with the texture of the corn grits. We enjoyed it, but would make it with pasta next time.

My husband, (who is not a great fan of polenta), LOVED this recipe. I did substitute the sun-dried tomato chicken sausage for a pound of mild Italian turkey sausage and it was fantastic. Pared with the sautéed spinach and pine nuts recipe in the same May 2011 issue, it was a definite winner.

I thought this needed more sausage, so I put in 6-8 oz. total. Also, dried oregano works just as well as fresh. Served with a caesar salad, this was a hit!

We thought this was great! I followed the other reviewer's suggestion and added a bit of tomato paste and red wine. We had never cooked with polenta before, but it was great and very easy. We were able to find the exact type of sausage mentioned in the recipe, and it was very flavorful! We'll definitely be making this again!

Quick and very tasty.

I have to admit, I made a few changes. I used regular Italian sausage; approximately 1/2 pd., I added a squeeze of tomato paste and a splash of red wine, and I added a little salt. It's quite tasty! And for the spinach, I also added salt and pepper, and finished it off with a splash of sherry wine vinegar. Ummmmmm good!!!

This was delicious! Really easy. I used a sundried tomato and mozzarella chicken sausage. I also used a bit of tomato paste (which helped thicken as well as add a bit more flavor) and an extra clove of garlic. I also used white quick cook pollenta because that's all they had at the store, and it was good as well (especially with the fresh, grated parmesean in there). All in all a great dish. Definitely will be making it again!

This was bland and boring. Chicken sausage was the only thing with any flavor. Will not be making again.

Super easy and tasty! May add a tablespoon of tomato paste next time to give the tomato flavor a bit more depth. And a splash of red wine :)