creamy polenta with caramelized fennel, bacon, and spanish olives

“Embark on a gastronomic adventure with our luxurious Creamy Polenta, harmonizing with the savory allure of caramelized fennel, crisp bacon, and briny Spanish olives. Indulge in the symphony of flavors that unfolds in every tantalizing bite.”

One of the places on my travel bucket list (among a slue of others) is Spain.

Well, more specifically, the islands off of Spain. I hear Majorca is B-E-A-U-tiful. Of course a pit stop in Pamplona to run with the bulls wouldn’t be a bad option either. I kid. Maybe. I am hoping with Mr.B flapping his arms all around the globe this year, that this bucket list item will get checked off in the near future. Babe, if you are reading this, let’s go to Spain! Babe? You there?

Anyways, I remember as a little girl my grandfather telling me about his visit to Spain. He’s a foodie with a great appetite and a wonderful storyteller. I remember sitting at the dinner table listening to him describe the beautiful churches, the colorful culture, and particularly, how he got to eat every 3 hours. He left no adjective untouched when describing the paella, cheese, seafood, wines, olives, etc. I could practically smell the spicy and exotic cuisines. Besides the eating, I’m pretty sure his favorite part was all the siestas he got to partake in. But that’s just between you and me.

One day, as I was daydreaming at home about how I would eat my way through Spain and take lots of naps on the beach, when I heard the doorbell rang, and when I went to answer it, there was a box placed on my front door. Hmmmm…what could this be? I opened the box and started sifting through all the peanuts. (side note: can we please come up with something better to package breakables than Styrofoam peanuts? Those little suckers cling to you like an ant on a sugar cube!) Inside the box was an assortment of olive oils, vinegars, and olives from the folks over at STAR Fine Foods.

What instantly caught my eye was the Star Farmer’s Market Spain Manzanilla Olive Pouch. Dude, are these not the coolest things ever? I love, love, luvvvvvv me some olives, so to have an option for a resealable, on-the-go-bust-your-olives-out-at-for-an-impromptu-spain-tasting, is totally up my alley.

But today, I thought I would use those olives to create a Spanish-inspired dish. The dish I whipped up is a creamy polenta, topped with my new current obsession, caramelized fennel, with bacon. I put sliced olives on top to give the polenta an even more salty round-house kick.

So, if you’re looking to spice up your “Meh Mondays” make this dish, and then take a siesta.

Disclosure: STAR Fine Foods sent me products to sample. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions expressed are 100% my own!