Polenta Inspiration

WE DID IT!!! My friend and I successfully ran the Race for Life yesterday evening in Battersea Park. It was such a great event with an amazing atmosphere – over 3000 people had signed up to run, jog or walk the distance :-).

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I managed the 5k in just over 25 minutes… not too bad for an awful long distance runner. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations, together you helped me raise a grand total of £1’711.00 in aid of Cancer Research UK!!!! If you have not yet donated but still wish to do so, the link below is active until early September:

http://www.justgiving.com/themedicalgourmet

Moving on to today’s recipe – recently I have started taking one ingredient and basing an entire menu around it. Today’s choice: Polenta. Polenta is great in cakes and breads (nothing beats chilli with cornbread) but also makes a great side to mushroomy dishes. It reminds me of my childhood holidays in the warm italian part of southern Switzerland. The reason behind my choice of polenta is a recent dinner invitation. They served a delicious polenta/lemon/almond cake for dessert. I had two helpings (despite a starter, a main and an exploding food belly). The minute I got home I tried to find a similar recipe, determined to re-create this heavenly lemony dessert. I don’t know if it’s exactly the same recipe, but it sure tasted just as good :-). The strawberry coulis is an addition of mine, I felt the dish needed some fresh fruity sauce to round it off.

Beef Fillet, Mushrooms, Sherry Sauce, Creamy Polenta

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adapted from Fast Food by Laurel Glen and Wildeisen

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Race for Life – Donations Welcome!!

Craziness and possible over-ambition struck: I decided to sign up for Race for Life on the 11th June!!! I am running this race to help raise lots and lots of money for one of the most important fields of medical research – cancer. Liposarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, hit my family 17 years ago and decided to relapse a few times – the most recent episode of disease being the worst with metastases. Sadly, treatment options for late stages of this (and other types of) cancer are scarce – a lot more research is needed!

So please click on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/themedicalgourmet and donate as little or as much as you want in aid of Cancer Research UK – every penny is a step closer to finding possible cures!

As for this cake – it is the final cake baked for the birthday celebrations (YAY 5/5; I made it!) – a traditional Swiss style carrot cake with a Kirsch icing. I made a gluten free version to cater for everyone’s needs by simply substituting the flour with gluten free flour – it was actually one of the most successful and praised cakes of the event! Definitely worth baking again 🙂

Swiss Rübli Torte ala Betty Bossi

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