As an alternative to mashed potatoes, try making this mouthwatering polenta. Nearly any easily melted cheese will do, but I happen to love the taste of the king of Italian blue cheese, Gorgonzola. It’s available in either sweet (dolce) or more tangy (piccante) versions, and the choice is really up to you. If you have access to a good cheese counter, they’ll let you taste before you buy. And if Gorgonzola isn’t available but you still want to make this dish—and trust me, you really do—you can use any good blue cheese, such as Roquefort, Stilton, or Bleu d’Auvergne.

Ingredients

　　3/4 cup heavy cream

　　3 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, cut into pieces

　　1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

　　1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

　　Basic Polenta (page 121), freshly made and hot

　　Add the cream, Gorgonzola, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to the freshly made polenta while it is still in the saucepan, and stir until the cheese melts. Season the polenta with more salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the polenta to a bowl and serve.

　　Reprinted with permission from Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Copyright © 2005 by Giada De Laurentiis. Published by Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Giada De Laurentiis is the star of Food Network's Everyday Italian and Behind the Bash. She attended the Cordon Bleu in Paris, and then worked in a variety of Los Angeles restaurants, including Wolfgang Puck's Spago, before starting her own catering and private-chef company, GDL Foods. The granddaughter of movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada was born in Rome and grew up in Los Angeles, where she now lives.