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Although nobody is quite ready to say goodbye to summer and head into fall, I must confess that it’s my favorite time of year and I welcome the return of comfort foods.

This season, I’m kicking it off with a little Italian flair inspired both by fun Italian-restaurant-themed television and by Italians who had wonderful ideas passed down to them from relatives in the old country. My friend who shared the idea for Polenta & Meatballs referred to it as "peasant food," which may be true, but it’s also my idea of heaven, and I think that you’ll agree.

In both of the following recipes (that each include instructions for a simple tomato sauce), you can substitute fresh tomatoes for canned, or if you’re in a hurry you can definitely use your favorite jarred tomato sauce and still end up with a wonderful meal. Buon appetito!

1 1/2 lbs top sirloin or flank beef steaks, cut into 6 ¼-thick slices and then pounded thin as possible

½ cup grated Romano cheese, plus a little extra for garnish

½ cup chopped parsley, plus a little extra for garnish

½ cup fresh slivered basil leaves

1/2 medium onion or 3 shallots, diced small

1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 Tb dried

Whisk together 3 Tb of the olive oil and the garlic. In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheeses, parsley and basil. Drizzle the olive oi-garlic mixture over the breadcrumbs and toss to distribute evenly.

On each steak, layer 2 slices of the prosciutto, roughly ¼ cup of the breadcrumb mixture, a little salt and pepper, a sprinkling of the pine nuts. Roll each steak up, folding in the edges to keep the filling in, and secure with a toothpick.

Heat 3 Tb olive oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy saucepot over medium heat. Add a few of the braciole and brown on each side (about 2 minutes per side). Remove the browned braciole to a plate.

To make the sauce, in the pot you’ve just used to brown the meat, saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil, and simmer for 7 minutes or so over medium heat until just tender. Next add the wine to deglaze the pan and then reduce it, stirring often, for about another 8 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer the sauce for about ten minutes and then return the beef rolls to the pot, arranging them so that they are covered by the sauce. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and gently braise for about 1½ hours, turning the beef very occasionally to ensure even tenderness.

To serve, remove the toothpicks, top the braciole with a bit of the sauce and a sprinkling of cheese and parsley. You can serve the braciole rolls whole or slice them and arrange them before serving.

Since the polenta and the tomato sauce will basically cook themselves once you’ve got them started, I’ve broken the recipe into three steps to make the best use of your time: first the polenta, then the sauce, and finally the meatballs.

Since it takes the longest, start the polenta first. Bring the water to a boil and add the polenta by whisking it into the water briskly to avoid lumps. Add 1 tsp of salt and stir the polenta frequently, until it starts to thicken and bubble. Lower the heat to low, stirring occasionally, until it is thick and pulls away from the sides of the pot, about 50 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the butter, add pepper and more salt, to taste. A nice variation is to stir in a last minute addition of some chopped parsley and/or a handful of grated Parmesan which adds a more interesting dimension of flavor.

Note: Leftover polenta is delightful fried. To do this, pour the polenta into a well-oiled baking pan and smooth it out evenly, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Then cut the hardened polenta into rectangles and fry them in a few Tb of olive oil, 3-4 minutes per side. Top with marinara and a sprinkling of Parmesan, or toppings of your choice and serve.

1 28-oz can petite diced tomatoes

For the sauce, sauté the onion, garlic, and celery in a Tb of olive oil over medium heat for about ten minutes until they soften. Add the canned tomatoes and the seasonings and as soon as the sauce starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and let simmer while you make the meatballs, stirring occasionally.

1 cup bread crumbs (or oats)

1/2 a small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp each dried basil and oregano

To make the meatballs, preheat the oven to 375.

Sauté the onion, garlic, and celery in a Tb of olive oil over medium heat for about ten minutes until tender and slightly golden. Allow to cool. Using your hands, mix the onions in a bowl with the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, parmesan, and seasonings until all of the ingredients are nicely incorporated. Form the ground beef mixture into just-slightly-larger-than-golf-ball-sized meatballs; makes about 12 meatballs.

In a skillet, brown the meatballs in a small bit of olive oil over medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side. I used a cast iron skillet because it can go directly from the stove into the oven, but if you don’t have one, you can certainly transfer your browned meatballs to an oven-safe baking dish. Put the meatballs, uncovered, in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes until they reach a temperature of 160 degrees and/or are no longer pink in the middle.

To serve, arrange a circular bed of polenta on each individual plate; next create a layer of the tomato sauce, and add 2-3 meatballs, with a garnish of parmesan and/or parsley.

2 cups bread crumbs (plain or Italian-seasoned)

To drizzle on top of your finished artichokes: whisk together the juice of one lemon, 2 Tb olive oil, and a little salt and pepper.

To make the filling, first whisk together the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and then toss in the rest of the filling ingredients.

Next, prepare your artichokes: Remove the stems and trim the spikey tops off of the outer leaves. With a large serrated knife, cut each artichoke in quarters lengthwise. With a sharp paring knife or a spoon, remove the very inner hairy leaves of the choke including any baby leaves that have little thorns on them, and then rinse to remove any strays.

You can gently pull the leaves of the artichoke a bit more open and then stuff each leaf with a little bit of the filling as well as putting a little extra stuffing in the center where the heart is.

In a baking pan, place about a half inch of boiling water in the bottom and then arrange your artichoke halves. Drizzle each one with a little bit of olive oil. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes until you can easily pierce the heart with a fork.

To serve, drizzle each artichoke with a little bit of the lemon dressing.

Our Mission at Helena Food Share: Serving our neighbors in need by providing food in a respectful and dignified way and by working with others to eliminate hunger in the greater Helena area.

If you are in need of food and would like more information, or if you would like to make a donation, contact Helena Food Share at 406-443-3663, or visit our website at www.helenafoodshare.org.

Sally Beck works at Helena Food Share, where she regularly demonstrates new recipes on the Charlie Cart mobile kitchen. She is a food enthusiast, professional baker and has owned her own restaurant.

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