Plenty project: Mushroom and herb polenta

To my delight, my friend Mira bought Ottolenghi's Plenty after reading my blog and hearing praise about the book from another friend. Last week we made a Plenty cooking date - the first of many to come, I hope! Mushroom season has arrived in Finland, and Mira had some freshly picked chantrelle mushrooms. I had polenta (courtesy of my wonderful neighbours who brought it straight from Italy) and joining forces, we decided to make the Mushroom and herb polenta recipe. It was heavenly! To my surprise, Mira had even managed to find Taleggio at Stockmann's Herkku food halls. The outcome was hearty and delicious. Especially when a little cooler, the parmesan-butter-rosemary flavoured polenta plus the herbs in the mushrooms really stood out, as did the Taleggio cheese. I'll definitely be making this again come winter, when one longs for a heavier and cosier yet replenishing meal. Thanks also goes out to Mira's partner Valtteri for his excellent skills in polenta stirring!

Goodie basket

My neighbours came home today from a three week holiday stint at their country house. I gave them some of the sourdough bread I baked yesterday, but what I got in return by far outweighs what I gave. I got a whole basket full of fresh (and needless to say, organic) vegetables and other goodies straight from their own land. Have I got some great cooking ahead of me this week! The basket contained two enormous zucchinis (weighing 2kg and 1.4kg), beans, carrots, onions, new potatoes, basil, coriander, lettuce, plus blackcurrants and redcurrants, a jar of home-grown and made rhubarb chutney, and a package of organic barley. I am thrilled. And feeling incredibly lucky and thankful to have such generous neighbours. Here's a peek at the contents...

The goodie basket - monster zucchinis peeking out

Zucchini, lettuce, basil

New potatoes, beans, carrots, onion, lettuce

Barley, blackcurrants, redcurrants, rhubarb chutney