Dinner tonight: Pancetta with swiss chard and soft polenta

I finally, *finally* made it to the farmers market last weekend--after a long hiatus--and did major damage: a ton of peaches, golden plums, blueberries, flax bread, pattypan squash, and rainbow chard. The chard was the focus of last night's dinner, which I prepared as pancetta with swiss chard and soft polenta.

Yummyyumyumyumyum! This was a total CL win--super delicious, easy, and just slightly over 300 calories a serving. Of course, one of the ways CL manages to keep its stats so low is with portion control...and trust me, it is VERY difficult to control your portions on this yummy dish! Fortunately, the polenta is very filling.

It's easy to make the polenta and topping simultaneously (which really you need to do so the polenta doesn't get hard and gross), as long as you make sure to prep and stage everything ahead of time (mis en place, for you cooking snobs) . I ended up using way more liquid than the polenta recipe called for, adding little by little as time went on. Use your judgement with this one--the polenta should be similar to risotto in viscosity--spreads out somewhat on the plate while still holding its shape.

Also, I generally hate bacon in my food, but you absolutely cannot leave out the pancetta in this dish: the salty and crispy complement the slight bitterness and goopiness of the greens.