What to do with polenta?

[bryanc]

I got sick of pasta and rice, so I decided to try polenta (which is made of corn-meal). On its own, it has less taste that rice or pasta, but it seems to go well with chili or pasta sauce. Does anyone else have any polenta experiences?

[gardener]

There are two ways to go with polenta; that is, it comes in two forms. One, the easiest, is ready made, a thick cylinder of corn meal and various other ingredients. You simply slice it off and cook it a bit. You can use butter or olive oil or a mix of the two. (Olive oil w/o butter is healthiest.) You can turn it into a savory dish (with things like onions,sun-dred tomatoes, garlic, various herbs to spice up the blandness of this cornmeal dish). Or you can turn it into something sweet, by dousing it in a little maple syrup. (Kids like it this way.) You could also use one of the Polaner All-Fruit syrups like blueberry. Or you can treat it like potato pancakes, serving it with a little applesauce and sour cream.

The other way is to make it yourself from scratch. Here's a basic recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.
Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a heavy non-stick sauce pan. Add a teaspoon of salt, some fresh ground pepper, 2 tablespoons of butter. Add 1 cup medium ground cornmeal a bit at a time, stirring constantly with a whisk. After all the cornmeal has been added, reduce the heat to a bare simmer and cover the pot. Stir it once every minute or so with a wooden spoon. It will be ready in about half an hour.

You can add various things. Parmesan cheese. Gorgonzola. Chives. Parsley.

And there's yet another way to go for home made.
After you've finished making the basic recipe, smear butter on a cookie sheet with raised sides. Pour the hot polenta onto the sheet. After it cools enough to touch it, cover it with plastic wrap and smooth it down until it's about 1/2 thick. Chill it in the refrigerator for an hour or more. Cut it on the cookie sheet into serving pieces. Sprinkle it with grated parmesan of asiago cheese and run it under a broiler until it's lightly browned.

Or, you can take those serving pieces and dip them in first beaten eggs and then grated parmesaan and fry them in butter or olive oil. Tomato sauce makes a nice garnish.

It's very versatile stuff. But I confess: I just get it ready made instead of starting from scratch.

[bryanc]

Yeah, I buy it in the tube. I'll make bread from scratch once in a while, for special occasions, but polenta just seems like too much work and mess. I like the thought of dipping in eggs though, I'll have to try that next time I'm cooking with it. My cooking day was last night (made a chili on polenta, a tortilla lasagna thing, and a garlic chicken with baby red potatoes with a mushroom sauce and some cheese).