What to Cook for Dinner Tonight: Perfectly Prepared Polenta
Posted in Ingredients, LearningHowToCook.com, Meal Ideas, Recipes, Techniques, Tips and Tricks on November 10th, 2009 by admin – 1 Comment
My first mouthful of Polenta seemed to me to be a heavenly cross between cheese grits and cornbread stuffing — two of the most perfectly delicious dishes in the world (especially to a Southern girl.) From that one scrumptious bite, I was hooked — and you will be, too. That’s why polenta will play a part in what’s for dinner tonight.
Polenta has a reputation for being difficult because it takes some time to cook properly (no, you can’t use the instant stuff — that’s not learning how to cook; it’s just learning how to open packages). And tradition holds that it must be stirred constantly to acquire the proper texture without scorching.
However, with a nice, low, even heat under a sturdy pan, you can let your polenta simmer gently while you prepare something to accompany it, giving only the occasional stir to keep things moving along smoothly.
We’re going to let this meal be a little bit more freeform than usual. We suggest your favorite roast or chop with a nice, savory sauce (a mushroom glaze, perhaps?) served over our delicious, creamy Gorgonzola Polenta. For a vegetarian version, serve it alongside Oven-Roasted Asparagus with Dijon Lemon Sauce or Roasted Root Vegetables. Or go spicy with Arroz con Pollo.
Following the Gorgonzola Polenta recipe will help you get a nice grasp on the basic process for making a classic creamy polenta. When you’re ready to branch out, you can start adding in your own flavors and additional textures.
Here are some basic tips, though, that hold true for any polenta attempt:
- Keep an eye on it! Even though you don’t really have to keep stirring continuously if you keep the heat low to medium low, you still need to watch the liquid level.
- Don’t microwave it. There seems to be a big push lately in favor of microwaved polenta. But anyone who’s ever microwaved anything knows things just don’t turn out quite right when they’re nuked. They may still taste OK, they may even be delicious … but microwave foods rarely taste like the real thing. At least give your polenta a chance the first few times, and clear off a stove burner.
- It’s not grits. I love grits. You (should) love grits. But polenta and grits are two different things. Polenta still retains a husk in a way that grits do not, and it requires a slightly longer cooking time. You can serve the two dishes in similar ways. But respect their differing heritages when learning how to prepare them.
- It doesn’t have to be bland. People will tell you polenta is nothing but cornmeal mush, and that they ate it as kids and hated it. But don’t judge a food by someone’s else’s (or your own) childhood impression of it. One of the reasons why people feed bland foods to children is because kids often reject usual or intense flavors they later grow up to love. Tired parents default to feeding youngsters foods that are inoffensive yet boring … and those kids grow up to hate those same boring foods. (You often can feed kids interesting foods by getting them involved in the process… but that’s fodder for a different blog.) Your polenta can be creamy and intensely flavorful. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Once you’ve mastered the basic polenta recipe, you can move on to more interesting textures and uses. Try our Polenta and Tomato Lasagna. Or find your own creative ways to work it in — we’ve even seen mention of firm polenta as a “crust” for a pizza-style casserole.
Happy Eating… and Pleasant Polenta!
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