Polenta with Mushrooms and Spinach

I was doing my weekly grocery run at Trader Joe's, and their pre-made polenta caught my eye.  If you've never had polenta before, it's a dish that is made from cornmeal and can be firm or soft.  The best part is that you can eat it pretty much any way you want.  The polenta from Trader Joe's is firm and comes in a log that is easy to slice and use.  I happened to have mushrooms and spinach in my fridge, so that's how this dish came about!

Ingredients

1 log polenta, sliced into 9 pieces

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno, sliced fine (optional)

1 tomato

1/8 tsp salt

10 oz baby portabella mushrooms, slices or cut into wedges (your preference)

6 oz fresh baby spinach

Directions

1.  Lightly spray/coat a large non-stick frying pan with oil.  Over med-high heat, pan fry the slices of polenta until light brown (~4 mins per side).  Arrange these in a single layer in an 8 inch x 8 inch glass baking dish (or larger if the polenta log you are using has bigger slices that don't fit).

2.  After cooking all of the polenta slices, place the remaining oil in the frying pan.  Saute the onions, garlic, and jalapeno on med-high heat for ~3 mins.

3.  Add the tomatoes and salt and cook for another 3 mins.

4.  Add the mushrooms and spinach and cook for another 2 mins (until the spinach wilts).

5.  Spoon the mushroom spinach mixture on top of the polenta slices.  Bake at 350 F for 15 mins.

6.  Serve hot.  Optional: top with Parmesan cheese