Aaah Halloween. The perfect excuse to scare yourself silly watching movies,to eat way too much chocolate and tootsie rolls and to hand out the same sugar bombs to the future of our world. I love it. This weekend was especially nice because we spent the Holiday weekend with our in-laws and sister-in-law. After 48 hours of packing in as much fun and food as we possibly could, we split ways and finished off the Holiday on our own. For us, it was on the couch. I did get inspired late afternoon and pulled together a simple but festive dinner in honor of the spooky occasion. Charlie sure did her part in scaring us half to death each time a trick-or-treater came to the door. Thanks Charlie. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get that spilled cream sauce out of my pjs.
Homemade Polenta Cakes with Cinnamon Shrimp and a Pumpkin Sage Cream Sauce:
What it took for two adults:
* 1 cup polenta
* 3 cups water
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 18 large shrimp – thawed, peeled and deveined
* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
* 1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
* 12 sage leaves
* 3 Tbs. butter, divided
* good pinch of grated nutmeg
For the polenta:
In a medium saucepan, bring the water and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil. Add the polenta and stir until thickened. Add 1 Tbs. of butter and stir to mix. Place pot in the refrigerator to solidify a bit more, about 5 minutes. On a baking sheet place a round cookie cutter and fill with polenta. Slide the cookie cutter away from the polenta and marvel at your cake. Repeat 5 times. Broil polenta for about 5 minutes. Set aside.
For the sage:
In a medium skillet, bring a Tbs. of butter to medium high heat and add the sage. Let sizzle for about 5 minutes until they crisp up. Set sage aside, leaving the butter in the pan.
For the shrimp:
To prep them, sprinkle with cinnamon and a dash of salt. Bring the butter back to a boil and sear the shrimp, about 2 minutes on one side. Flip and sear for 30 more seconds. Set aside.
For the sauce:
In a small sauce pan bring cream, pumpkin puree, parmesean and nutmeg to a light simmer. Stir for about 5 or so minutes, keeping the cream from burning. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
To plate, arrange 3 polenta cakes in the center of your plate, topping with 2 sage leaves per cake. Then place 3 shrimp on top of each cake and drizzle with pumpkin cream sauce. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds for an added touch. It’s pretty good y’all!
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