Weeknight Sweet and Sour Garlic Sausage over Polenta (Creole Sausage Stew on Grits)

The wife and I had a great Monday today at school. Things are going well for us this year. On the way home we shopped and, on impulse, I decided to make a sausage stew to go over yellow grits a/k/a polenta. Sometimes you just have to say, "What the heck!"

This dish requires a bit of straightforward knife work, but is surprisingly easy once that is done. Let me show you the steps.

Ingredients
1 ring kielbasa, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 sweet pepper, large diced
1 onion, diced
1 bulb fennel, diced
2 large mushrooms, halved and sliced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
4 sprigs thyme
2 leaves sage, minced
1/4 cup oregano, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Tbs. flour
1Tbs. tomato paste
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbs. tamarind paste
1 Tbs. sugar
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
salt to taste
extra virgin olive oil as needed

Method
Fry the kielbasa rings in the oil until browned. Remove from the skillet, leaving the fat.
Fry the fennel, onion, sweet pepper, and mushrooms until beginning to soften. Add the tomato paste, garlic, crushed red pepper, and flour and cook another two minutes while mixing the additions into the vegetables. Add the wine and tomatoes to deglaze the pan.
As soon as the flour has absorbed the wine, add the sausage back, the chicken stock and the herbs. Cook until the stew thickens. If needed, add more chicken stock. Add the tamarind paste and sugar. Mix in well and taste. Add salt as needed. Adjust the tamarind/sugar blend as needed.
Serve over grits or polenta prepared as indicated on the package.

The final result: