Go To Meals will be a reoccurring installment of what I'm whipping up in the kitchen and throwing a ton of salt on. These meals are not tested in a test kitchen or 'developed' to any extent. They are just an exploration into the use of our homemade sea salt.
The staple items of my diet are (in no particular order) olive oil, salt, eggs, greens (usually arugula or kale), fresh crushed black pepper, olives (all kinds), lemons, and Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese. With these items, I can make endless combinations.
Today's meal looks a bit elevated, but it was super simple. I had pack of sweet Italian sausage that NEEDED to be used. I took the sausage out of the casing and fried the whole pack on the range with two shallots chopped and bit of olive oil. When it cooked down a bit, I threw in a heavy splash of Montepulciano (red wine) that I was drinking while preparing this meal. On the other burner, I started a creamy polenta. I always have polenta on hand for emergencies and non emergencies- everyone should have polenta in their cupboard. I boiled 2 cups of a half water, half almond milk mixture (don't judge!) and slowly added Romano cheese and a hefty amount of fresh pepper. I usually will use a chicken stock or regular milk with polenta, but the almond milk was the only other liquid available. A real polenta recipe that looks great!
For the arugula, it was simply tossed with a squeeze of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a small drizzle of olive oil.
Lastly, and the main part of this dish, is something I've been working on for the last few months. My favorite Italian restaurants in the city are the Frank restaurants in the East village and Lower East Side- Sauce, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank's. Seriously, I could eat at any of these every night. Drooling just thinking about it. Anyway, if you follow their owner, Frank Prisinzano on Instagram you would know that he is the king of the 'crispy egg' and holy cannoli, is this thing amazing! It basically is a fried egg with one side REALLY well done. Smitten Kitchen have a great tutorial here, though I do like mine a bit more burn-y!
For assembly, I try not to pig out on the polenta too much and build the plate up with healthy portions of all components. Top with a ton of fresh SEA SALT. Tahhhdahhh!