I Am a Chef - Shrimp & Polenta, An Anniversary Dinner

Sometimes I feel like I am 68 going on 16.  To the chagrin of my baby brother, Fred...Jay and I celebrate many anniversaries.  There is the first time we went on an official date, the first time we kissed, the first time Jay asked me to marry him, the day I actually said yes...
Last night we celebrated the anniversary of when I accepted his proposal of marriage.  When you fall in love at the ages of 57 and 62 you don't have a lot of time to saunter into a relationship.  Jay and I reconnected in May of 1998.  We had worked together many years ago and had always been friends so we knew each other, but this time we knew were considering more than friendship.  By July he had asked me to marry him.  I could not say yes...it was happening too fast. How could he be sure he wanted this?  He asked me repeatedly and I kept saying things like, "Don't ask me yet...it's too soon."  To... "Well probably, eventually."  To...on August 29th... "Yes."  August 29, 1998 was also the first time I had cooked for Jay so it is appropriate that we celebrate with a special home-cooked meal.

The dish of choice was one we both loved... "Smoked Paprika Shrimp with Poblano Polenta and Red Pepper Sauce". It does take some prep time since it involves three separate items but it is not difficult.  I discovered on a McCormick Spices website, here.
Some of my own comments about the dish:

• It is billed as an appetizer but I prepare it as an entree.
• Instant polenta can be difficult to find.  They have it at Whole Foods and at Argentine Markets.
• I use a jar of roasted red peppers from Trader Joe's for the sauce...saves a bit of time and works fine.
• The Polano pepper can also be a Passila or an Ancho...you want a little bite, not as bland as a bell pepper but not too hot.  I would not use a Jalepeno.

Since food connects us to memories, when I make polenta I think of my dad.  The Rinaldi's were from Northern Italy in the Le Marche region and his family always ate polenta.  It is just corn meal and was a poverty dish.  He told the story of his mother covering a large wooden board that she used to make pasta with cooked polenta.  Then she topped the polenta with marinara sauce and in the center of the board she place 5 links of sausage.  Everyone wanted their sausage, but they had to sit around the board with a spoon and begin to eat the polenta off the board, working their way up to the prize, the sausage.  By the time they reached it, they were so full of polenta that just one link was sufficient for them.
Buon Appetito!

Paprika Shrimp, Polenta, Red Pepper Sauce