Shrimp with Spicy Corn & Polenta

Monday night was one of those nights where I had very little time to cook dinner. Once again I did not show up to work till almost 9, which meant staying till 5:30. Once at home, I had to test a recipe for a vegan cookbook, make dinner, and have enough time to put myself together before going dancing.


Luckily, I had some defrosted corn and shrimp in my refrigerator (they were leftover from a Sur La Table class I assisted on Sunday). I decided to make Shrimp with Spicy Corn & Polenta.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
16 ounces frozen corn, defrosted (of course you can use fresh corn!)
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 tablespoon adobo peppers in the sauce (I buy those in a can at the store in the Latin aisle)
1 cup polenta
4 cups water
1 hand full of spinach
14 shrimp (or use however many you have)
salt & pepper

Directions
1) Heat oil in a large skillet. Add corn, adobo peppers and garlic. Cook until the corn kernels start to pop.
2) Meanwhile, boil the water in a large pot. Add salt. Stir in polenta and cook (while constantly stirring) until it's done. Add spinach in the last few moments.
3) In a separate skillet, heat some oil and cook shrimp about 1-2 minutes per side (be careful not to overcook).
4) Add the corn to the polenta/spinach mixture. Spoon that into a bowl and put shrimp on top. Garnish with cheese and parsley if you have those on hand.

I thought the dish turned out pretty well, although Anna thought the shrimp were undercooked. This was a quick and flavorful dinner to make on a weekday night.

What are some of your dinner ideas for when you want something comforting and relatively healthy, but don't have a lot of time?