Your Favorite Way to Cook Polenta: Tips and Tricks

[helenas]

what is your favorite way to prepare?

especially in one-pan weeknight dinner. I'm thinking about two possible combinations:

one is with italian sausages, another one is gorgonzola.

thank you

[stellabella]

both of those sound good to me.

i made a simple two pan meal the other night.

I rubbed a fresh salmon fillet with salt, coriander and pepper, drizzled with EVOO, wrapped in foil and stuck it in a VERY hot oven for about 15 minutes.

cooked coarse corn grits with kosher salt and sun-dried tomato strips, sauteed bell pepper, onion, garlic and kale til tender in a skillet and then assembled:

polenta, topped with kale, topped with fish, topped with crumbled goat cheese. it was very good.

the next night i pan fried the left-over polenta and topped with tomato sauce & cheese.

i also make polenta crusts, in an iron skillet, fill with whatever, roasted vegs, cheeses, beans, etc., and bake til heated through.

the key i find is seasonging the grits as they cook with some flavored OO. gives them a rich texture, too.

[Spoonful]

Polenta with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese

Use assorted fresh mushrooms such as cremini, portobello, chanterelle, and domestic brown or white, in any combination. You could add 1 ounce of dried porcini which you soak in about 1/3 cup hot water.

The herbs in this dish could be fresh sage or thyme.

Don't forget the garlic, salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

I can PM the recipe to you if you so desire.

[Suzanne F]

what is your favorite way to prepare?

especially in one-pan weeknight dinner.  emphasis added

If you're making polenta AND something, it's going to be 2 pans most likely: one for cooking the polenta, and the other for whatever else. Unless it's something like polenta with cheese, in which case it's all-in-one.

But otherwise it looks so much better if it's a heap of polenta with the other stuff poured over it.

I almost always have too much sauce left over from stews and braises (oxtails; osso buco; etc.) -- often enough to sauce another meal. I put the excess away in the freezer. Then just heat it up and serve over a mound of polenta: waste not, want not.

Also remember that if you have leftover (or make extra) polenta, you can chill it until firm, then cut it into slices to fry or grill. Mmmmmmmmm

[Spoonful]

what is your favorite way to prepare?

especially in one-pan weeknight dinner.  emphasis added

If you're making polenta AND something, it's going to be 2 pans most likely: one for cooking the polenta, and the other for whatever else. Unless it's something like polenta with cheese, in which case it's all-in-one.

Okay, I lied: you will need a skillet for the mushrooms and a heavy saucepan for the polenta; a bowl, maybe a measuring cup...

[Suzanne F]

Okay, I lied: ...

No, not really, and I wasn't trying to catch you. It just sounded from what Helena originally said, that SHE thought ...

No matter. You are absolutely right about how great mushrooms over polenta. And with the tiniest drizzle of truffle oil, heaven!!!

[Spoonful]

(...)And with the tiniest drizzle of truffle oil, heaven!!!

Brilliant!

[Jinmyo]

I'm with Suzanne. I prefer polenta with stuff served atop or alongside. Like short ribs. Osso bucco. Wild mushrooms. Lamb shanks. Pulled pork.

[Saffy]

our fav way to eat polenta is grilled with EVOO brushed over the top to help it brown slightly. I cut it into diamonds and toss in with mixed green leaves, cherry tomatos, asparagus or beans and other seasonal fresh raw or slightly blanced veges and hunks of smoked cold chicken. Yumm!!!

[wingding]

At this time of the year,polenta with some sort of game ragu is the ticket for me;Wild boar,venison,rabbit.Braised bitter greens and squash would be good as well...fyi,check out Paula Wolferts' oven baked method for cooking polenta in 'Mediterranean Grains and Greens'-it's easy and delicious.

[helenas]

wingding, you're reading my mind - this is what in my oven right now; polenta torta stuffed with kale per Wolfert. Modifications - i used white polenta and topped the torta with crumbled luganega during its last 15 minutes in the oven.

[Dave the Cook]

Russ Parsons has a great recipe for pork ribs (country style) and Italian sausages with soft polenta in his book. Very hearty and highly recommended. Like Suzanne was saying, a lot of sauce left over for a second meal.

[joiei]

In yesterdays food section of the Tulsa World, the topic was fond memories of Polenta. It cracks me up when I hear people romanticizing this Italian staple. Basically, it is the cheese grits I grew up with in northwest Florida. And the Italians did not have grits until after the discovery of the new world. My favorite question to ask polenta snobs is if they have ever had grits. It is amazing how many would not dare to try them. My Granny made her's with fresh cream and yellow cheese. They were great.

[Louisa Chu]

My Granny made her's with fresh cream and yellow cheese.  They were great.

Oh no. Not so fast. Recipe please?

[Fat Guy]

The Italians didn't have tomatoes either!

My opinion about grits is the same as my opinion about polenta: most examples are terrible -- they're just gruel. But when they're good, they're good.

I'd be interested in a taxonomy of cornmeal. I notice there are about a million different kinds but I don't really understand the key distinctions.

[trillium]

In yesterdays food section of the Tulsa World, the topic was fond memories of Polenta.  It cracks me up when I hear people romanticizing this Italian staple.  Basically, it is the cheese grits I grew up with in northwest Florida.  And the Italians did not have grits until after the discovery of the new world.  My favorite question to ask polenta snobs is if they have ever had grits.  It is amazing how many would not dare to try them.  My Granny made her's with fresh cream and yellow cheese.  They were great.

The Italians ate polenta before the introduction of corn, it was just polenta made from other grains. I like mixing Sobrino's farina per polenta with the farina made from saracenean grain. A good corn farina per polenta should smell like corn when you open the bag, not dusty flour.

regards,

trillium

[The Camille]

I'd be interested in a taxonomy of cornmeal. I notice there are about a million different kinds but I don't really understand the key distinctions.

For the purposes of polenta, I think the key point is the grade of the grind (coarse v. fine). Ever try to make a decent polenta with fine ground cornmeal? Not very good, in my opinion.

My grandmother used to sub grits when she couldn't get the proper grind of cornmeal (back in the day). Not the same taste, exactly, but a better approximation of the texture she was after.

The same holds true for other 'flours or meals' (chickpea or gram being the one I'm experimenting with right now). I'll post my version of panizza/farinata/panelles once I've made the final adjustments. Basically, the fine ground of most available chickpea flour is the reason the recipe hasn't translated as well when outside Italy. I'm experimenting with grinding my own - something I've just realised my grandmother had done all along. Would be interested in others' opinions/experiences about this....

[fimbul]

I'd be interested in a taxonomy of cornmeal. I notice there are about a million different kinds but I don't really understand the key distinctions.

I'm with Fatguy on this. I grew up eating grits, and my thought when I had polenta was, "Hey! These are like grits!" That said, I didn't think they were identical to grits, just similar. I still feel that way.

If you asked me why, I think I'd tell you polenta is a different type or grind of cornmeal than grits are, but I'd be hard-pressed to go into more detail than that. I could tell you, though, that, in my mind's eye, polenta is usually yellow and grits are normally white (till you add cheese, anyway) and that polenta always seems to be made of discrete grains no matter how creamy it is, while grits are more often a less distinct mass of smooshed grains.

edit: rearranging words to better represent thoughts

Edited May 8, 2003 by fimbul (log)

[The Camille]

If you asked me why, I think I'd tell you polenta is a different type or grind of cornmeal than grits are, but I'd be hard-pressed to go into more detail than that.

Hey, we posted the same thought at the same time - make a wish!

You're right about the difference - I think it's something to do with the processing of grits (lime?) - probably someone on here will know more.

Also, full germ v. de-germinated makes a big difference when you're trying to use cornmeal for making a bread starter - but that's going a bit off topic....

[vengroff]

I had some very interesting polenta the other night. It was cut into diamonds instead of the traditional triangles, and then deep fried just long enough to get a crisp crust on the outside, without browning much at all. Of course it still tasted like not much of anything until you used it to soak up the sauce from the duck it came with.

Does anyone ever make grits into cakes to grill or fry like this, or are they always served soft? Was the triangular cake just something the Italians came up with to make yesterday's left over polenta more appetizing?

[fimbul]

Does anyone ever make grits into cakes to grill or fry like this, or are they always served soft?

I know *I've* made fancypants triangles from grits before, and I'm sure I must've stolen the idea from somewhere.

Seriously, though, I know a lot of folks fry their leftover grits, and I've seen a few examples of grits squares, diamonds, and triangles a la polenta. It's done, though because it's usually polenta you find in more "serious" restaurants, it's usually polenta you find all gussied up as hearts, clovers, and horseshoes.

Hey, we posted the same thought at the same time - make a wish!

All righty, I'm wishing right now as I type. But if I'm not independently wealthy by the end of the week, I'm going to be so disappointed.

[Varmint]

Mmmm, grits. Mmmmm, polenta. Just call it gritlenta. The difference here is that I serve "polenta" when I have an Italian-themed meal. I serve grits the rest of the time. Many low-country specialties have a grits component.

I make grits/polenta/corn mush soft and thick. Fried and baked. It's an interesting thickener in some stews. I make it with cheese, butter, cream and any combination of the three. I scent it with different aromatic herbs. Bacon and other cured meats are always good. It takes well to tomatoes, the dried variety, too. Mushrooms are excellent with grits. Grits alone may not appear to be exciting, but well made with a thick pat of butter. T'ain't many better ways to start a day, unless you have some red-eye gravy to go with that.

The one thing I like about making gritlenta is that I almost always have someone else make it for me. It's as simple as it gets, but it needs fairly constant attention.

[fimbul]

I make grits/polenta/corn mush soft and thick. Fried and baked. It's an interesting thickener in some stews.

I recently used grits (along with some manchego cheese) to stuff jalapenos which I then dipped in flour, then egg, and fried. It was a fun experiment.

Grits are fun.

[fifi]

Corn meal tutorial for FG...

Corn meal is made from either processed or unprocessed corn. Processed has been soaked in an alkaline solution (lime from heated shells, wood ashes in the olden days). Somehow the ancient tribes in Mexico figured this out. What happens is the niacin that is normally bound up in other molecules is released and available nutritionally. The use of unprocessed corn for grits or polenta (in the southern US and Italy respectively) experienced an epidemic of pellagra. Pellagra is a disease of niacin deficiency. What we call grits now is usually "hominy grits", hominy being the term for alkali process corn... also known as posole in Mexico.

The other distinction for corn meal is whether or not it is degerminated. Degerminated corn has that little pip at the bottom of the kernel removed. That is where most of the oil is so the resultant meal will keep longer since there is no oil to go rancid. This is the typical insipid crap you get in the grocery store from the major brands.

Now you get to color... Yellow, white, and newly fashionable blue. I, for one, can't taste much difference.

Next comes grind anywhere from coarse sand to flour-like consistency.

Grits - Processed, white or yellow, coarse grind. I think polenta is the same thing in that they learned that you have to process the corn to get the nutritional benefit. (Pellagra was once a big problem in Italy where the poor ate the stuff as a staple of the diet.)

Cornmeal (like for corn bread) - Typically not processed, typically degerminated, any grind, any color.

Stone ground cornmeal - "Stone ground" usually infers that the germ is left in. Theoretically, stone mills don't generate as much heat so the germ can be left in. This is the stuff you actually want for cornbread.

Masa Harina - Processed, fine grind, usually a pale yellow. Used for tortillas, tamales and other goodies.

All of the above is made from a variety of corn, sometimes called "dent" or "field" corn. Not the sweet corn that we usually eat. Actually, having had dent corn on the cob from street vendors in Mexico, doused with lime juice and chile powder, I have to say it is really makes our sweet corn taste insipid. I mean that stuff tastes like CORN. It has a nice chew also.

[joiei]

Fifi, Thanks for the lesson. Stuff I never knew, and now that I do I am glad.

Most of the commercially available grits are terrible. Instant grits are incredibly terrible. It is the good stuff from mills like Hoover in Alabama and War Eagle in Arkansas that I enjoy. The War Eagle grits are very coarse, take longer to cook and have a flavor. Where are there other mills producing quality grits?

My Granny only used Jim Dandy yellow grits. Her recipe passed with her in 1969. I can only come close. I do not know what brand of cheese she used. Plus, she churned her own butter.

And my other Grandmother always made extra so she could fry them up to go with supper. Is supper a southern thing? or do people in other regions have supper also? Or do they just have dinner? Which was only on Sunday when I grew up. It was the meal eaten right after church. I would guess that this is the origin of 'Dinner on the Grounds'. Considering the time of the meal.