Banosh — Carpathian Cornmeal with Mushroom

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups cream or milk + 1½ cups water
• 3 cups Mushroom, sliced
• 4 oz feta or brynza-style cheese, crumbled
• 3 tbsp butter
• 4 oz bacon, optional and traditional
• Salt

Method

1. Bring the cream and water to a bare simmer with 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Rain in the cornmeal, whisking, and cook LOW, stirring often, 15–18 minutes into a thick, creamy polenta-kin. Carpathian shepherds stir it over fires; a heavy pot is your fire.
3. Brown the Mushroom in the butter (with the bacon, if using) until deeply golden.
4. Bowl the banosh, crater the top.
5. Fill the crater with the mushrooms and crumble the cheese over — salty against creamy against buttery. Mountain food that never learned to be fancy and never needed to.