Polenta

[kadesma]

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

 

[cjs]

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

 

[GB]

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

 

[VeraBlue]

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.

 

[Lynan]

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!!

 

[cjs]

"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.

 

[RDG]

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.....

 

[Lynan]

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.

 

[ChefJune]

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!

 

[cjs]

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

 

[Harborwitch]

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.

 

[lindatooo]

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!

 

[RDG]

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.

 

[Harborwitch]

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!

 

[Half Baked]

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.

 

[Harborwitch]

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!!!

 

[In the Kitchen]

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.

 

[GB]

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!

 

[ChefJune]

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!

 

[cjs]

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!!