Drinking Chocolate

Since my oldest daughter graduated college last June, I have less reason to go into Boston.  And less reason to visit Burdick's, the chocolate shop to end all chocolate shops. The two of us would go in each time we found ourselves in the area, mostly to ogle the expensive chocolates and get one of their famed hot chocolate drinks. 

After a little poking around, we found their recipe online here.  There's no sugar in this at all, just pure chocolate and milk.  I used Green & Black's 72% baking chocolate.  

Drinking Chocolate  ~~~inspired by Burdick's
2 servings    
              
1 ½ cups milk (whole or lowfat)
2 heaping teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup ground dark chocolate (use fine, high quality chocolate that has 60% or more cocoa content)
freshly ground nutmeg (or cinnamon, cardamom. or chocolate shavings)
creme fraiche (or whipped cream)

Heat milk to just simmering.  Take it off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder and ground chocolate.  Continue whisking until the chocolate completely dissolves.  This will take a few minutes.  Put it back on the heat if necessary.

 

Grab your coziest sweater and a good book.

Spicy Chili with Cornmeal Biscuits

How cute are those Maltipoos, Puggles and Schnoodles?  Come on.  Who doesn't love a designer dog.  They're just the cutest.  Kind of like my corn meal biscuits.  Part corn bread, part biscuit--- they have the crunchy, nutty sweet flavor of cornbread, and the light fluffiness of a biscuit.  Their golden color is gorgeous.   Don't you just want to take one home with you right now? 

I love biscuits in the cold weather.  They go with so many of the one pot meals that I make during the season.  The great thing about biscuits is that you can think of them and make them at the last minute.

Cornmeal Biscuits     ~~~from America's Test Kitchen
oven to 450

1 cup (5 ounces) yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp honey
2 cups (10 ounces) flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 and 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut in pieces

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the cornmeal, buttermilk and honey together in a large bowl and set aside.
Add the dry  ingredients to the bowl of a processor along with the butter pieces and pulse about 10 times until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. 
Add the buttermilk mixture and pulse just enough to bring the dough together.  
Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 10 times until the dough is workable.  Add in extra flour if it's too wet. 
Pat into a 9 inch round and cut out about 8 biscuits with a 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter.
Bake for 5 minutes, until they just start to rise, and then turn down the heat to 400, and bake for another 8 to 10  minutes, until golden.
Cool on a rack.

Notes:  Make sure your biscuit cutter is big enough. I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I first tried using a glass, but I found that it squashed the dough down as it cut. You really need a sharper edge, so after searching around the kitchen I landed on the metal top of a cocktail shaker!  It measured 2 3/4, and it was perfect. You don't want wimpy biscuits.
If you don't have buttermilk, add 1 Tbsp of lemon juice to the milk and set aside for 10 minutes. It will do just fine.
The recipe says to rotate the pan halfway during the cooking.  I didn't do that.  I think that's to insure an even rise.  Some of my biscuits lilted to one side, but I didn't care enough to watch the clock and rotate the pan.

I like to make my chili with good meat and really spicy.  This batch stars steak tips, white beans, two kinds of hot chilies, ale, and a secret ingredient (sweet potato, shhhhh....)
 
Spicy Chile
serves 4

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds and all, minced
1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 lb steak tips, cut in bite sized chunks
1/2 bottle of beer (any kind)
1 14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes, pureed or diced
1 small can mexican chilies
1 cup beef stock (I keep those little containers of stock around, you can also use water)
1/2 bottle of beer
1 cup cooked white beans, (made from dried is best, but you can use canned)
1 heaping tsp chili powder
1 heaping tsp ground ancho chili pepper
1 heaping tsp chipotle chili pepper
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
salt to taste
2 Tbsp masa harina 

Saute the onion, peppers anfd sweet potato in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until the onion is translucent.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, heat a bit more oil over medium high heat and sear the steak tips on all sides.  I did this in two batches to get good color.  Too much meat in the pan and it just steams instead of sears.
Add in the ale and put back the vegetables.  Add in the tomatoes, broth, can of chilies and spices.  Mix it well and let it simmer on low for about 45 minutes.  Add in the beans toward the end of the cooking time. The chili is best if it gets a chance to rest before you eat it, so put it aside to cool, and then refrigerate until ready to eat. 
When you are ready to eat, reheat the chili.  Make a paste out of the masa harina and a little water, and add to the pot.  Stir to combine and heat for another 10 minutes.  The chili will thicken slightly.

Notes:  I really like the fiery hot chili tempered by the sweet potatoes and creamy white beans.  You don't really taste the sweet potato, it just melts into the background and gives added richness to the chili.  I think using steak or chunks of beef gives it a much needed variety of texture, and it allows you to actually taste the beef.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

First up---

The winner of the $25 gift certificate to Williams Sonoma is...
Tricia of Saving Room for Dessert 
Congratulations Tricia!

We make these chewy Ginger Cookies every year.  They're not very flashy, but they are delicious.  The spices are just perfect, and even though they spread out while they bake, they stay nice and chewy.  They're sturdy and they keep well so they're perfect if you are putting together a cookie gift assortment.  A batch of these will put you in the holiday mood, guaranteed. 

This recipe comes from our good friend Liz.  When my girls were very young she opened up her sunny kitchen to them for an afternoon of holiday cookie baking.  They made a huge mess and many cookies that day, but these were the memory makers.  They scent the kitchen and are absolutely addictive when eaten warm from the oven.   Thanks Liz---not only for giving us a favorite family recipe but for introducing my girls to the joys of baking.  I would have been too preoccupied with the devastation in my kitchen to have pulled it off.  Once flour gets into the nooks and crannies and crevices of a kitchen it's pretty much there for good...just like the image I carry with me of my girls dusted in white, proudly tasting their cookies.

Liz's Ginger Cookies

oven to 350

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

extra sugar for rolling

• Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

• Add the egg and molasses.

• Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended.

• Form or scoop balls the size of a small walnut.  Roll in granulated sugar to coat.

• Place on an un-greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet 2" apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Note:  You don't have to chill this dough, but if you do the cookies will spread a little bit less.  Either way the cookies will be chewy and delicious. 

Miso Soup

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Who can live on cookies alone?  In between batches of crackles and ginger snaps I made a pot of Miso Soup.  My daughter requested it and we all agreed it's the perfect post-Thanksgiving food.  One bowl has the power to redeem you and your guilty conscience from all those extra helpings of pecan pie.

Miso soup was one of the first things I cooked for myself when I was in college.  It's a staple in Japan, and you've probably had it in Japanese restaurants.  The soup is basically a thin miso infused broth, and when you get it in restaurants it usually has very little in it, maybe a slice or two of scallion floating around.  But it can also made heartier with tofu, mushrooms, seaweed, green onions, and potatoes, among other things.

Miso is a Japanese fermented paste, usually made from rice, barley and or soybeans.  Most stores stock it, look for it in the Asian or international section of your market.  I found mine, a locally made organic miso, in the refrigerated section.  Miso is a biologically active, living food, like yogurt.  Cooking destroys some of its beneficial bacteria and can change the flavor.  When you make Miso soup the paste is added at the end, once the pot is taken off the heat.
This is basically a healthy and nourishing instant soup.  It's perfect for when you have a cold or flu, and so much quicker and easier to make than chicken soup.  In Japan it's believed to have powerful health giving properties, (including fighting the Big C.)

Making miso soup gives you the perfect excuse to experiment with some of the exotic, loose mushroom varieties you always pass by when you're doing your grocery shopping.  Their delicate flavor will take center stage in such a simple dish, and you don't need to buy many, so the cost won't be prohibitive.  I bought baby button Shitake and a variety called Beech Mushrooms, which was new to me.  The tiny little brown or white mushrooms come clustered on one large stem or stalk. 

Miso Soup

serves 4

1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
2 cups water
2 to 3 Tablespoons Miso paste
1/3 of a 14 oz block of firm tofu, cut in small cubes
2 cups assorted mushrooms, sliced or left whole if very small
4 or 5 scallions, sliced thin (use all of the white and a little of the green)

Heat the stock and water to a simmer and add the mushrooms and tofu.  Simmer for a few minutes to cook the mushrooms.  When you're ready to serve, add the scallions and take off the heat.  In a small bowl, whisk the miso with 1/4 cup of the hot broth to form a paste.  Stir it back into the broth, and serve.

We like it with lots of steaming hot edamame (soy) beans showered in sea salt.

Note:  If you get really into it and you want to have this every day for a week, just make the broth ahead and stir in the miso paste fresh with each meal.

Today is the last day of my giveaway---

win a Williams Sonoma Gift certificate just by becoming a follwer!

(Details at top right)

Bourbon Pecan Crackle Cookies

Today I'm embarking on a weekend of baking. I'm making three different cookies that get formed into balls and rolled in sugar of some kind.   First up are these dark chocolate crackles, they've always been one of my favorites.  They're the kind with the crunchy outside and the soft brownie-like interior. 

For a successful early holiday baking experience you need to assemble your arsenal...preferably early in the morning after a good sleep.  Clear the counters and set out the basics: flours, sugars, baking powder and soda, extra measuring cups and spoons, etc.  I bring out large canisters every fall to streamline all the seasonal baking.  Line them up, tops off.  Also set out a pile of dish towels. 
  

I opened up my Martha Stewart cookie app and picked the crackles.  I've added pecans and bourbon for a little something extra.

Bourbon Pecan Crackles        ~~~adapted from Martha Stewart
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 cup toasted pecans, finely ground in a small processor
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp bourbon
for rolling:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioner's sugar 

Melt the chocolate carefully in the microwave.  I use the defrost setting or 50% power.  Start with 30 seconds and stir, checking every 15 seconds until it's just melted.  Set aside.
Grind the pecans in a small processor.  Then put them in a bowl along with the flour, baking powder and salt.  
Cream the butter and sugars till fluffy and then add the eggs, vanilla and bourbon.  Mix in the slightly cooled chocolate, and blend.  Mix in the nut and flour mixture just until combined.  The dough will be soft.  Cover and chill for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350. 
Shape the dough into 1" balls and first roll in the granulated sugar, then in the confectioner's.  Bake on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets for 15 to 20 minutes, check them at 15, if the characteristic crackles have appeared, and they're slightly firm to the touch, they're done.
Cool on racks.  You can sift more powdered sugar on top of the cookies after they've cooled for a whiter look.
 

Be careful not to overbake these...think of them as tiny brownies...you don't want them to be dry.

One down, two to go.  I'll be sending them home with my daughter and her friends for their drive back to college, after a few quality control checks...
 

Old favorites to fuel you through Black Friday

Around here it'll be a day of old favorites.  Foods that we can make in our sleep.  Food that's fast and simple so we can focus on the important stuff, like shopping.

Normally I don't subject myself to the craziness of Black Friday, but my daughter wants to go.  Her one street college town has very few shops...the campus co-op, an overpriced drug store, North Face, and a clothing boutique where inexplicably every single item carries a three digit price tag. 

And anyway  this year it really seems like the patriotic thing to do. 

We're starting with warm Pumpkin Streusel Muffins, supersized in the jumbo tins to fuel us through the mall and beyond.  (Just bake the muffins for 5 minutes longer in the 6 large tins.)

Rather than resort to mall grub we'll make a pit stop at home for a quick bowl of soup.  I used what was around the kitchen, chopped up some onion, shallot, garlic, fennel, fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, a few cremini mushrooms, and the last carrot in the bag.  I threw them in the pot with olive oil, and after they sizzled for several minutes I threw in a can of fire roasted tomatoes, a quart of chicken broth, a couple of bay leaves and 1/3 cup of yellow lentils.  After about 20 or 30 minutes simmering on the stove, we're ready to eat.  I always grate cheese on top of vegetable soups, I just grabbed the first nub I found in the cheese drawer...Gruyere. 

We'll be exhausted by dinner.  We'll grill some extra sharp Vermont cheddar with ham on New York rye.  

What are your Black Friday plans--- going out?  Staying in?   I'm curious about my fellow bloggers in Canada and across the pond...do you guys have a Black Friday?

Don't forget about the Williams Sonoma giveaway this week, 

just become a follower to enter...details top right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway---you can win a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma just by becoming a follower! Just click on the Join this site button to enter.

Dark Chocolate Walnut Cake

I have a definite contrary streak in me, a tendency to go against the grain, swim upstream, go rogue.  So while everyone is talking about pumpkin pies and yams and drippings, I'm thinking chocolate cake.  One daughter arrives home from college today, I'll have this on the counter waiting for her.  It's ok that there's a slice missing.  She'll understand.

This cake has a sophisticated European feel with the ground walnuts and the elegant single layer, but it has enough chocolate oomph for the American palate.  It's moist, dense and sweet but not too sweet.  I made a few changes to the recipe...I substituted bittersweet chocolate for unsweetened, and added some cocoa powder to up the chocolate factor.  I've used buttermilk and vanilla in the frosting.  The original recipe calls for two layers, I like it better as one.

Dark Chocolate Walnut Cake      ~~adapted from Bon Apetit 1995
oven to 350

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup ground walnuts (measure them after grinding, not before)

ICING
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
a few Tablespoons buttermilk, as needed
1 teaspoon vanilla
ground walnuts for garnish

Butter and flour a 9-inch spring form pan.  

Melt the chocolate on the defrost setting, or 50% power of your microwave. (Or over a bowl of simmering water)

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda into a small bowl along with the ground walnuts.  

Cream the butter using a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer. 

Add both sugars and beat until fluffy. 

Beat in eggs 1 at a time. 

Beat in vanilla, then melted chocolate. 

Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions each, beating just until blended after each addition.

Spread the batter into the pan and bake until a  tester inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about  35 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack.

For the icing, melt the chocolate as above and set aside. In a large bowl cream the butter and add in the sugar and cocoa powder, beating until smooth. Beat in 2 tablespoons of  buttermilk and the vanilla. Beat in the melted chocolate. Thin with buttermilk if it's too stiff to spread nicely.  This makes enough frosting to cover the cake with a thick layer, but I like it just on top.

This cake goes right to the top of my favorite cakes list, alongside the Tangerine Poppy Seed Cake from a few weeks ago.  The deep dense chocolate goes really well with the strong walnut presence since both have slight bitter undertones.  The frosting is richly chocolate but fluffy from the creaming process.  A nice contrast in texture.

I favor cakes that can be eaten at breakfast, or as a snack at tea time.  Except for rare occasions like birthdays and holidays I don't see the point of making anything specifically for the end of a meal.  This cake qualifies for both, so its a real hero of a cake.  But whenever you serve it, make sure to set a strong cup of black coffee down beside it.

It's raining quite hard today, and my daughter will be driving home with a friend.  That's a first--- we usually pick her up or she gets the college bus to Boston.  The mountain roads are tricky in the rain.  I'm glad I have this cake to distract me.  I'm sure it'll be ok if there are 2 slices missing.

Don't forget about the giveaway this week---you can win a 

$25 gift certificate to Williams Sonoma 

just by adding your name to the followers list...

all followers, including international, will be entered to win! 

GIVEAWAY! (and a classic Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Pie)

I'm celebrating my 100th follower with a giveaway --- a $25 gift certificate to Williams Sonoma --- and all you have to is become a follower to enter.  Just click on the Join this site button on the sidebar.
All followers will be automatically entered to win, and I'll pick the winner via random.org on Sunday November 27th.  Hurry up and follow!!  (Williams Sonoma ships internationally, so all followers are eligible)

Now for the pie...

I've been wanting to make this classic southern pie since I visited my Dad and his wife in North Carolina last month.  This is a venerable old southern family recipe, skillfully pried out of the venerable old Atlanta family by my Dad's wife at a cocktail party, just for all of us here at the The View from Great Island.  I feel so lucky to have it, these kinds of recipes don't come along every day, and just think, you didn't have to ply me with Jack Daniel's jello shots to get it.

Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Pie
(I made it in a 9" tart pan)

1\2 cup sugar

1Tbsp  flour

1 stick (1/2 cup)  melted butter

3 eggs well beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla
seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Combine the sugar and flour in a mixing bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and pour into an unbaked tart shell*

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set
(like custard  --- when a knife comes clean)










* This crust is one I've been wanting to try, too.  I saw it on Linda's blog Ciao Chow Linda, and it originated with David Lebovitz ...it's a little different, but it works.  You can use any unbaked dough you want, but here's an interesting and easy version :

French Tart Dough        ---from Ciao Linda via David Lebovitz, slightly altered by me

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Melt butter in a saucepan until bubbly. Add all the rest of the ingredients with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball and comes away from the side of the pan. Add more flour if it seems too wet.. Pat into a tart pan.

Note:  When you bake the tart, put some foil under it to catch any drips from the very buttery crust. I liked this crust very much, I'm going to use it again.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that no one really ever wants dessert after Thanksgiving dinner.  Dessert is the last straw, the thing that tips the scales from uncomfortably stuffed to groaning in agony.
Thanksgiving desserts are really better appreciated the next day.  If we're honest about it most of us will head straight for them first thing the next morning.  Our stomachs will have snapped back to their (almost) original size, and we're ready to fully appreciate those sweets.  Cut yourself a slice of tart to have with your coffee as you survey the damage in your post-feast kitchen.  
If you have superhuman restraint, wait till later in the day, after the turkey soup or tetrazzini and have it with a nice shot of bourbon.  

Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato and Almond Pesto

I don't know about everyone else, but all this focus on Thanksgiving has got me feeling bloated full already.  I need to clear my head of all things stuffed, mashed, gibleted and casseroled for a bit and just sit down to a nice light dinner.  I've almost forgotten how good a simple pasta can be. 

I have a soft spot in my heart for pastas that come together without a trip out to the store.  Jars of oil packed sun dried tomatoes are a staple, and I always have good almonds on hand.  I've gotten to the point where I just grab fresh parsley every time I pass through the store, even though that might mean I sometimes have more than I need.  I've come to appreciate how much parsley can do for a dish, especially in the colder months.  And I'm using a heavier hand with it---no insipid flecks on top of my food---I chop masses of it and incorporate it right in for its fresh green flavor.

Spaghetti with Sun Dried Tomato and Almond Pesto
 ---from Food and Wine, my notes/changes in red

1/2 cup, drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes  (I reserved and used the oil, it's got good flavor)
1/3 cup salted roasted almonds (I used Marcona almonds, skin on)
1 large garlic clove, sliced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
12 ounces spaghetti (I used whole grain)

1/3 cup chopped parsley plus more for garnish

1. In a food processor, pulse the tomatoes, almonds, and garlic. Add 1/4 cup of the oil and puree. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a skillet, toast the bread crumbs in 2 tablespoons of the oil, stirring, until golden. Transfer the crumbs to a plate; season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. In the pot, toss the pasta with the pesto, parsley, some of the reserved cooking water and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until the sauce clings to the pasta. Transfer the pasta to bowls, sprinkle with the bread crumbs, a little more parsley and drizzle with olive oil.

 

 
I ground my crumbs from some leftover brown bread.  I like the rustic feel it gave to the finished pasta.  

Marcona almonds are rich and crunchy.  If you can't find them, toast your almonds before using them, it will develop the flavor and crunch.

You can use the reserved oil from the drained tomatoes in place of some of the olive oil.  

I'm so glad we took this little break.  After a meal like this I feel refreshed and ready to get back to contemplating that 20 pound bird, how about you?

Polenta with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms

 I saw this recipe in the October issue of More Magazine.  I cut it out and it's been top of my heap of things to make ever since, but I've only just gotten around to it.  I added some bacon and shallots to the Brussels sprouts, as well as some cheese and chicken stock to the polenta.  It's really good. 

Polenta with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms   ~~~ adapted from More Magazine
oven to 400
serves 4

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
4 slices bacon, chopped
olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
6 oz baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
parsley for garnish
grated Parmesan or Romano for garnish

For the polenta:
1 cup yellow corn meal
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, or Romano cheese 
2 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper 

(leave out the bacon and replace chicken stock with vegetable stock for a vegetarian dish)

Spread out the bacon pieces on a baking sheet and roast for about 5 minutes until it's crisp and the fat has rendered.  Remove the bacon and set aside, but leave the fat.  Put the Brussels sprouts on the pan and toss with a little olive oil and the bacon fat.  Roast for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.  
Add the mushrooms, garlic and shallots, salt and pepper to the pan and roast for another 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the sprouts are just tender.

Meanwhile make the polenta: put the corn meal in a pot set on medium high heat. Whisk in the stock and milk while heating to a boil, stirring often.  Then reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes until the polenta is thick. Finish with two tablespoons of butter, and the cheese, stirring until melted and check the seasoning.  If the polenta gets too thick you can always add more stock or milk.  You're aiming for the consistency of oatmeal.

Ladle the polenta into bowls and top with the Brussels sprouts and mushrooms.  Garnish with parsley and grated cheese.

Note:  This dish earns high marks from me, I will make it again, but it does not have a sauce.  If you would prefer a sauce, use this alternate method: (you will need an extra 1/2 cup of stock, a little more butter, and 1/4 cup of sherry, Marsala, or white wine)
Instead of roasting the shallot, garlic and mushrooms in the oven with the sprouts, put them in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter and saute on medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes.  When the mushrooms are browned, deglaze the pan with the wine, and then add the stock.  Cook on high to reduce the stock a bit.  Then add the sprouts and bacon, heat through and finish the sauce with 1 Tbsp of butter.  Check the seasonings.  Spoon over the polenta and finish as before.  I think I would prefer this way because the little bit of sauce would be nice with the polenta.