Gino D’Acampo: Delicious dish of Italian sausage with mushrooms and polenta

Serves 4

Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
6 Italian sausages with fennel, chopped into 2cm slices
100g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1006 oyster mushrooms, sliced
100g porcini mushrooms, sliced
100g pitted Kalamata olives
200ml beef stock
knob of butter
30g plain flour
400g quick-cook polenta
1 litre vegetable stock (or as much as your polenta packet recommends)
200g freshly grated Pecorino cheese
salt and pepper

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, sausages and mushrooms over a medium heat for 8 minutes until golden, stirring occasionally.  Add the olives, season with salt and pepper, add the beef stock and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes over a medium heat.

2. Dip the knob of butter into the plain flour, add to the sauce and stir, allowing the sauce to thicken very slowly.

3. Meanwhile, put the polenta and the vegetable stock into a medium saucepan and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it thickens.  Add in the Pecorino, season with salt and pepper and stir well (the polenta should not be too hard; add some hot water, if necessary).  Turn out onto a wooden board.

4. Spoon the sausages and sauce over the polenta and serve immediately on the board with a glass of dry Italian red wine.