Baked Polenta with Sausage and Artichoke Hearts

I saw these logs of polenta while shopping and because I've never tried one, I decided it was time to.  I have this great bag of heirloom polenta grains in my freezer that I ordered from Anson Mills in South Carolina, but yet, I had to try this stuff that costed $3.  Go figure  ;)

Honestly, I took the easy way out today as the grits I have made from Anson Mills took me about an hour to make - though they were 100% worth the time!  This polenta was already shaped and ready for my dish.  I knew it wouldn't be anywhere near as good, but it was fine for tonight.  I was making an easy meal to prepare.

I looked for recipes and then thought I'd base mine (loosely) on this one.  I had this big ole jar of artichokes in the cupboard too, so I thought it was a good way to use those too.  I used a couple the other night.  Personally, I'm not a fan of these ones from Costco and wanted to use them up before they expired.

My son despises artichokes, so I would have to try and mask them, like I tried to do to stuff when he was a little kid...that only meant chopping them so he didn't recognize them, today.  I ended up telling him they were in there anyway and while that did trigger mild alarm on his face, he agreed to try it.  I told him I'd put extra cheese on the dish.  :)

I bought  sweet basil Italian sausage and used about a pound and a half, which was the package below plus two.

I chopped an onion, sprinkled crushed chili flakes, a good shake of cayenne pepper, fresh cracked pepper and minced 3 cloves of garlic.  I removed the casings and broke the sausage into pieces so it would be easier to fry.

While that was browning, I drained the artichokes and put them on kitchen towel and squished them while enclosed in the towel.  I pressed all the water out (tons came out!) and cut them into pieces of four.

I drained the sausages when browned, about a half cup of fat/oil came out so it was good I did.  I mixed in the artichokes.

I added in a jar of marinara sauce and mixed again.

I brought it to a boil, lowered the heat, covered and simmered for almost an hour with it barely bubbling.

After 30 minutes I tasted and it was really good.  It didn't need any seasoning.  While that was going on, I sprayed a 13" x 9" baking dish with "Pam".  I sliced the polenta into about quarter inch slices.

I poured all of the sauce into the dish.  I tried to arrange the polenta slices like in the recipe picture.

Cheese was next.  I had some bocconcini (200 grams).  I would have just used that but because I promised my son extra cheese, I added some grated mozzarella too.  I tucked the bocconcinis in behind the polenta.  I was one slice short, can you find the missing bocconcini piece???  Oh well - I stuck a slice of mozza in there after I did the parsley.

I sprinkled some chopped, fresh Italian parsley over.

I topped with mozza (about a cup) and put into the oven for 45 minutes.

I took it out and let it rest for another 15 minutes before I sliced it.

This was very tasty - a really pleasant surprise.  We both enjoyed it.  The sauce had great flavor and my son didn't even complain about the artichokes.  The polenta was a little crumbly, but it didn't ruin the dish.  The bocconcini made it extra special.  I would definitely make this again, perhaps even with "real" polenta next time...