18 hours ago, kayb said:I really want to come visit you for a week. I'll buy groceries and wash dishes, if you'll cook.
You would be most welcome to visit....especially if you bring bacon!
Sage and Onion Polenta from The Zuni Café Cookbook p 192 topped with Roasted Pepper Relish p 310
I'm generally very happy with my pot-in-pot Instant Pot polenta but decided to try Judy's method of stove top cooking over low heat, then holding for at least 30 min (up to several hours) in a double boiler. Her polenta cooking method is available online here. The polenta I used was stone ground, locally grown corn and quite coarse and I do think the texture benefitted from the holding time. In the interest of less pans to wash, I think I can mimic that in the IP by just letting it sit in the "keep warm" mode.
For the sage & onion variation, you gently sauté a diced onion in butter with fresh sage and lots of black pepper, then mix that into the finished polenta. The result is rich from the butter, sweet from the onion, flavorful from the sage and plenty peppery. I might reduce the butter if I were to serve this as a side but on its own, I like the richness without having to add a bunch of cheese.
Since the polenta is so rich, I thought the roasted pepper relish would add a nice counterpoint. This recipe extends over 3 pages but most of that is details on two methods to roast the bell peppers. After that, it's just a few short sentences. It includes currants soaked in sherry vinegar(I used golden raisins that I snipped to be smaller), pine nuts, garlic, basil or arugula (which I intentionally left out, then unintentionally forgot to add it at the time of serving), olive oil and sherry or Marsala.
I very much enjoyed the contrasts in texture and the bright flavor that this relish brought to the rich, creamy polenta.
