# Polenta



## In the Kitchen (Aug 4, 2006)

Could someone tell me how to make Polenta?   All recipes call for adding polenta.  Called the name brand company and they are sending brochure but in meantime would like to know how do you fix polenta?  Appreciat e your time.


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## GB (Aug 4, 2006)

Polenta is very easy to make. I like to bring 4 cups of liquid to a boil. You can use water, but I prefer to use stock as it will add much more flavor. Once it is at a boil you want to slowly drizzle in the cornmeal while whisking so that no lumps form. Pour the cornmeal in as slow as you can and don't stop whisking.

Once it is all in turn the heat down to low or med low otherwise it will spatter all over the place. At this point I switch from a whisk to a spoon and continue stirring non-stop. A pinch of salt right now is a good thing to add. As the cornmeal soaks up the liquid it will become thicker and thicker. 

You can add anything else you like at this point. A favorite of mine is some shredded cheese. I usually go with a good sharp cheddar, but you can use just about anything. Once it gets to the desired consistency then you are done.


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## ChefJune (Aug 4, 2006)

Polenta is fine ground cornmeal that you stir into rapidly boiling liquid.  You can pay more for a product called "Polenta," or you can also make it from good quality cornmeal.  I love it!  I like to stir it into stock of some kind, depending upon what it's being served with, or my mood, and it goes with all the same things that pasta or risotto does.


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## jennyema (Aug 4, 2006)

Polenta = cornmeal and liquid.

Like CJ says, you can buy dry cornmeal labeled as "polenta" and you can find cornmeal and water already cooked into polenta rolled up in a sausage-like plastic roll that you cut and fry.

You can vary the amount of water to make polenta of different consistencies, from loose, soupy polenta, to very firm for grilling.


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## cjs (Aug 4, 2006)

...and a little wine as the liquid hurts nothing at all either... 

I love to make a gratin out of polenta and some roasted butternut squash and lots of Parmesan...


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## vyapti (Aug 4, 2006)

I don't stir contantly.  I use a heavy pan on the lowest heat possible, cover it and stir every few minutes.  It takes about half an hour.  I also stir in parmesan cheese near the end.

When it's done, scoop it into a bowl and eat right away or pour into some kind of a mold for later.  You can pan fry polenta in butter once it's hardened.  Oh, and don't forget the sauces.


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## GB (Aug 4, 2006)

vyapti said:
			
		

> I don't stir contantly.  I use a heavy pan on the lowest heat possible, cover it and stir every few minutes.  It takes about half an hour.


Mine comes together in about 5 minutes (if that).


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## Gretchen (Aug 4, 2006)

It may also be coarse ground corn meal which I prefer for "polenta".


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## In the Kitchen (Aug 4, 2006)

*Thanks*

Polenta is something I have heard of but haven't fixed myself.  Sounds so good w/cheese.  Just like oatmeal, I truly think the health aspect of it is of great importance.  cjs, what is the recipe for butternut squash and polenta?  Sure looked good the way the cook made it for his show.  I thank you all for your ideas and hints about adding stock and wine.  Makes a difference on the flavor when that 'extra' is put in.  

How quickly you all responded.  So wonderful that someone pays attention to my question.


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## cjs (Aug 4, 2006)

My recipe for this dish is for 150 - I used to make it at a hotel I worked - but it's real easy.

Cut you butternut in half so you have the bulbous end and the neck end separate. Cut each in half, rub with olive oil and roast till just fork tender. Scrape the 'meat' out of the bulbous halves and mash. Peel the neck halves and cut into thin half circles. Set all this aside or make you polenta while the squash is cooking.

Cook your polenta (12 oz.) and whisk in the mashed squash, 4-6 T. butter and 1 cup parmesan cheese, s&p.

Spread the polenta in the prepared baking dish and arrange the baked squash slices on top in an overlapping pattern. 

Scatter small pieces of butter over the gratin and sprinkle with ~1/3 cup more of the parmesan.
Bake in the upper third of the oven for 1 hour, or until bubbling and golden. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

You can also play with this and use individual serving casseroles - makes a nice presentation.

This is NOT a real healthy dish, just darn good!!


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## VegasDramaQueen (Aug 4, 2006)

_My mother was born in Italy in 1898.  There was no such thing as store bought polenta.  Polenta is what you make with cornmeal, it isn't a product of it's own.   I don't know when cornmeal became known as polenta but some enterprising person decided they could get more money for it if it was called "polenta" instead of just plain cornmeal.   Don't be misled by what it is called, it's the finished product that is Polenta.  You can use coarse or fine ground and add some wonderful things to it.  Go online and google "Polenta Recipes"  and you'll get great ideas from hundreds of recipes.  _


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## ironchef (Aug 4, 2006)

Besides stock, milk also makes a very good base for polenta as well.


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## In the Kitchen (Aug 4, 2006)

*True Polenta*

I did try google and they always stated to add polenta never said how to fix polenta.  Sometimes probably assume should know that.  It just sounded so wonderful when the cook baked it after he had made the polenta.  But he added parmasean cheese to give it crunch.

This is NOT a real healthy dish, just darn good!! 

cjs thanks for sharing your recipe w/me.  Really does sound delicious.  I bet it makes you hungry when you look at the ingredients.  I just don't know why people in my neighborhood don't like to fix their own meals.  Want to go out.
Never know what they do w/food that you can't see when they prepare it.  Especially if they don't like you as customer.


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## BreezyCooking (Aug 5, 2006)

For goodness sake - don't for one minute think you have to buy "special" cornmeal to make terrific tasty polenta.  Ain't so.  And don't bother with the premade "tubes" of polenta (I believe the brand is "Frieda") - they're awful.
Just go out & buy whatever cornmeal your supermarket carries & go to it!!

I, quite frankly, just use good old Quaker Oats brand & cook it up - either with water, milk, or stock, depending on what I plan to do with it.  I then let it cool, & cut it & heat it according to how I plan to use it.

My favorite personal indulgence?  Cut into squares & sauteed with a LOT of butter & served with eggs for breakfast.  Another favorite?  Again, cut into squares, sauteed in 1/2 & 1/2 butter & extra virgin olive oil & served with a rich winey mixed mushroom sauce on top.  I've never been fond of polenta with tomato sauces, but do know that a lot of folks do enjoy it this way as well.


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## bjcotton (Aug 5, 2006)

Hey In the Kitchen, ask CJS pretty please and maybe she'll give you her recipe for Polenta with Shrimp and Green Onions.. it's really good


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## cjs (Aug 6, 2006)

Oh, I forgot about that one!! It is good - I'll go dig it up!


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## GB (Aug 6, 2006)

This is currently my favorite polenta recipe...

Pumpkin Polenta with Chorizo and Black Beans

1 tbsp evoo
1 lb Chorizo, casings removed, chopped
1 med onion, chopped
1 15oz can black beans, rinsed + drained
2 pimento or roasted peppers, chopped
3 cups chix stock
2 tbsp butter
1 14oz can pumpkin puree
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 tsp dried thyme

Heat med non stick skillet to med-high. Add evoo and chorizo. Cook for a minuter or 2. Add onions and cook another 3 or 4 minutes. Add black beans and pimentos and cook another 1 or 2 minutes. Set aside.

Bring stock, butter, and thyme to boil in a large saucepan. Lower the heat and whisk in the  pumpkin. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal and stir until it comes together. Remove from heat and season with salt and add cheese. 

Serve sausage mix over top of polenta.


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## licia (Aug 6, 2006)

I suppose I'm just going to have to try polenta. How much different can it be from grits????????????


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## ironchef (Aug 6, 2006)

licia said:
			
		

> I suppose I'm just going to have to try polenta. How much different can it be from grits????????????


 
Polenta is made from ground cornmeal, grits are made from ground hominy. Their "corn" flavors are a little different.


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## licia (Aug 6, 2006)

Grits are made from ground corn. We've had this go around before! All grits are NOT hominy grits.


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## kadesma (Aug 6, 2006)

licia said:
			
		

> I suppose I'm just going to have to try polenta. How much different can it be from grits????????????


licia,
it's a little different in how it tastes. I think you'd love polenta I know I do. The brand I buy and yes I know corn meal can be used, I just like a certain brand. The reason being, there are times when every one is here all burners are being used so I do my polenta in the oven. The brand I use tells you how and it's a snap and leaves you free to get other things ready and besides I'm lazy..It will taste just the same as someones who has had to stand at the stove and stir...So give it a try licia, I think you'll be surprised at how good it is and all the fun things you can do with it.

kadesma


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## cjs (Aug 6, 2006)

"Pumpkin Polenta with Chorizo and Black Beans" - now doesn't that sound interesting.....


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## GB (Aug 6, 2006)

It is a favorite around her cjs. Every time I make it I instantly get forgiven for anything bad I have done the past week


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## VeraBlue (Aug 6, 2006)

I use a combination of chicken stock and milk as the liquid, and then cracked black pepper and lots of grated locatelli cheese.  

After you plate what you are going to use for dinner, quickly pour the rest into a smallish, square pan.  Toss that into the refrigerator and let it set.  The next morning, you can remove the firm polenta from the pan, slice it, about half an inch thick, and then grill it in butter in a heavy skillet.   Serve it as a base for poached eggs with a tomato slice for a delicious breakfast.


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## Lynan (Aug 6, 2006)

I have enjoyed polenta many ways but my favourites are:

1/ With a stew of baccala and tomatos
2/ Mixed with Asiago, Fontina and Gruyere
3/With Porcini and Gorgonzola stirred thru' ( Porcini cooked off in a little butter and garlic)
4/ Polenta Taragna, a speciality from Valtellina Italy. Maize kernels are left entire before grinding.
5/ Polenta made with the addition of chesnut flour and Fontina, from Valdostana.
6/ Wedges of polenta grilled and topped with a bolognese type sauce or one with only chicken livers
7/ Best of all, plain with a tasty goat/rabbit casserole/stew.  

My MIL used to eat polenta with sugar and milk for breakfast.
Personally, I would not go that far!!


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## cjs (Aug 7, 2006)

"1/ With a stew of baccala and tomatos" - Lyn, you sent my searching and all I could find was "bacalao" - a Spanish term for dried salt cod. ?

What is baccala?

I had an appetizer a few years ago using polenta that I've been making ever since - it's so good!

    POLENTA WITH ASPARAGUS & TALEGGIO
Recipe By     :a Chef's Journey via Zinfandel Grill, Roseville, 7/03

On a plate - sprinkle Balsamic Vinegar.
Top w/a rectangle of Polenta, ~1/2" thick. (the polenta pieces can be seared a little)
Smear a little EVO over the polenta.
Top w/roasted or steamed asparagus spears cut to fit - maybe at an angle to the polenta.
Top this w/carmelized onions and shredded taleggio.
Melt the cheese and serve.


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## RDG (Aug 7, 2006)

Baccalà and baccalao are the same thing: baccalà in italian, baccalao in portuguese
You wash baccalà in some milk, to leave off the most of salty taste, passi in egg and flour, and fry it.
But there is another thing I don't understand: you all are speaking about "corn" flour. Corn and mais are the same thing? I've halways used a "mais" flour for polenta, the yellow flour. And it has never been a matter of five minutes, but more often of a couple of hours. 
Efffectively, you have to clkear if you are speaking of polenta as it's made in North Italy (where is originally coming from), yellow, hard, nearly solid, and in South Italy, made with white flour, nearly liquid. For us, this is not polenta, it's sometithing strange .
The yellow one is made in a huge pan, very big, ten or more liters, adding to a lot of water the flour very very slowly, mixing conitinuosly. And going on to mix all tthe time, till polenta is really hard. At the end, you pour the entire pan on a white cotton sheet, adjust up the angles till the shape is perfectly round, and polenta is ready: it stays up by itself, a little circular hill 10-12 cm high, 30-35 large.
The Valtellina type is made with an integral corn flour, like pizzoccheri
To eat with everything has sauces, with gorgonzola (fantastic) with wild games, with cheeses mixed inside.....


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## Lynan (Aug 7, 2006)

We used to cook our polenta over a wood fire. The pot would sit in the hole on top and we would all take turns stirring. And it was ALWAYS a long slow process! I loved the crosta ( crust) left in the pot after we had turned the polenta, bursting with chunks of just melting cheese, onto our special wooden polenta plate. As RDG says, it is like a little mountain although Taragna was softer.
I think most people use the more ' instant' type cornmeal out of Italy. I know that here in NZ the instant is what is always used. And I have NO idea what is done to make it that way. Sigh...there is something to be said for Slow Food.


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## ChefJune (Aug 7, 2006)

I just use the stone ground cornmeal I get from "my" farmer is South Jersey.  It works very well.  Sometimes I serve it soft, just as it comes from the pot (and yes, RG, it takes a lot longer than 5 minutes!  and other times I pour it into a pan a let it set up and then either grill or fry it off before serving with a sauce or underneath a stew.

Lyn, I'm copying ALL your suggestions down to re-create this winter!  They all sound so delicious!


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## cjs (Aug 7, 2006)

they sure do! this is a wonderful thread-everyone has such great ideas.


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## Harborwitch (Aug 7, 2006)

Polenta is one of our favorite things to eat.  It does take a long time to cook, but I cheat - got a "stir-chef" that stirs the pot while I work on other things.  

GB the pumpkin polenta sounds to die for!  I have everything but the black beans and pumpkin . . .  um, Bob, will you stop at Safeway??  CJS your butternut polenta sounds divine.  

Our favorite way is to stir in cream and gorgonzola at the end - heaven in a bowl.  We had truffled polenta a couple weeks ago - truly the most wonderful thing I've ever eaten.  I found white polenta in Dean & Delucca, I had a recipe for a sauce that was nothing but cream (lots of cream) and diced soprasetta with some freshly grated parm on top - yum!   We also love it with braised short ribs with mushrooms and tomatoes.


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## lindatooo (Aug 8, 2006)

I also use broth (chicken) instead of water; add grated Parmesan at the end then chill on a jelly roll sheet (about 1" thick) cut it into squares about the size of a playing card and grill...  YUMMMMMMMY!


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## RDG (Aug 8, 2006)

The pot Harborwitch is speaking of is probably this.
In every way, also here in Italy there is "instant Polenta". Not so bad, but nothing do spare with the hadmade one. As alternative, you can do polenta also in pressure pot. It works.


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## Harborwitch (Aug 8, 2006)

Similar.  I have a very heavy copper saucepan that I make polenta in, the StirChef sits on top, is battery powered, and has a metal rod that has the plastic "blades" whic do the stirring on the bottom.  The arms that support it over the pot are adjustable.  

I have found that it's best to get the polenta going first, just to where it's starting to thicken and then use the stir chef.  With the very heavy pot and a slow fire it takes a while - but worth the time.  We're having GB's polenta tonight!


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## Half Baked (Aug 8, 2006)

Mr HB loves scrapple but I can't even bear the smell of it in the house so I came up with this: 

City Scrapple

I fry sausage (from sage to HOT, whatever mood I'm in), drain the fat off, add some herbs and begin my polenta, made with chicken broth or mixed partly with water.

When the polenta is very thick, I add the sausage and pour it into greased bread pans.  I let it harden in the fridge.  In the morning, I slice the 'scrapple', fry it up and serve it with maple syrup or applesauce.

I even love this.


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## Harborwitch (Aug 9, 2006)

GB, OMG!!!!!  We had this for dinner tonight, it was absolutely to die for.  We had Portugese smoked chorizo  so after we grilled the peppers to roast them we grilled the chorizo diced it and added it to the onions and beans.  

Just the pumpkin polenta was amazing.  I could see that as dessert with spiced apples and walnuts and some gorgonzola with real maple syrup drizzled over.  This, my dear, is a fantasitic keeper!!!


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## In the Kitchen (Aug 9, 2006)

*To Die For*

GB you must be the winner here! Your recipe has already been tried and test ed.  Better stick around we need you.

Scrapple, I didn't know anyone knew how to make it anymore.  Have heard my mother once talk about it but that is far as it went.  Thanks for sharing  your method of fixing.  

The numerous ways that everyone fixes something so common.  I was reluc tant to ask about polenta as I felt I would seem really ignorant.  So  thankful I did anyway.  Many times this happens where I find out about all different ways to fix.  Everyone has their favorite.  I am keeping all these comments.  I sure hope to use many of them.


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## GB (Aug 9, 2006)

I am so glad it was a success Sharon! 

Your take with the spiced apples, walnuts, gorgonzola and syrup sounds fantastic too. I will be trying that soon!


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## ChefJune (Aug 9, 2006)

The Colonials made Indian PUdding with cornmeal, maple syrup, and whatever else they had around...  Being a transplanted New Englander at heart, and a history nut, to boot, I have several delicious recipes which I shall hunt up and post....  Makes a great "January dessert" with heavy cream, or homemade ice cream...   Durgin Park, a really touristy restaurant in Quincy Market in Boston, makes the definitive one...  I try to get up there in the winter for a lunch of Fish chowder (no, not clam) and Indian Pudding... two of my faves!


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## cjs (Aug 9, 2006)

Oh Sharon and GB - now I have to look if I brot some cornmeal with me in the trailer - I've got to  try this!!! I'm drooling. Recipe is printed and I'll have to go explore Salt Lake City for a store!!


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## In the Kitchen (Apr 5, 2008)

This is the best thread around!  Sure is one I refer to so often.  GB guess you really like to fix this also.  Kind of makes one hungry with all the different combinations.  I thank you all for the time.


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