Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

polenta

Recipe by
S M
Anywhere, AL

I get many recipe emails and this is from one of my favorite sites "The Ktchn". This is an easy way to make polenta compared to my old way. When we moved here, we had spent about every dime we had on our new house and the move. Since we could only afford meat occasionally, I fixed polenta several nights a week. Our favorite is to freeze a block of polenta, let it thaw, crumble and fry it in a little butter and top with carmelized onions. Such comfort food! That was over 10 years ago and things have certainly changed for us. I hope you enjoy the food that symbolizes our pioneer spirit!

prep time 10 Min
cook time 45 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For polenta

  • 4 c
    water
  • 1 tsp
    salt
  • 1 c
    polenta, coarse semolina or corn cornmeal

How To Make polenta

  • 1
    Needed: NON-Stick 2 or 3 quart pot or enamel cast iron pot or polenta pot Whisk and long wooden spoon Pan for molding the hot polenta (any with sides will do depending on how thick you desire the polenta)
  • 2
    Start with the water in the pot and add the salt Bring to a boil Add the polenta, stirring with your right hand and adding the polenta with your left gradually (Reverse this if you are left handed) Whisk until thick Cover In 10 minutes stir with wooden spoon then cover again Stir and scrape down the sides every 10 minutes (about 3 or four times as this should cook for about 40 minutes.) The polenta should be thick and creamy Pour into your pan to cool and mold or serve from the pot while it is still hot
  • 3
    Polenta can be used in place of rice, potatoes or pasta. It can be used as a bed for stew, marinara, topped with grilled or roasted veggies (roasted tomatoes, carmelized onions, sauteed zucchini, artichokes,kale, sauteed mushrooms, garlic), or chili to name a few. Add grated cheese, butter, herbs, or cooked veggies, during the last 10 minutes of cooking. After the polenta has cooled a block of it can be cut from the mold, fried or microwaved and served anytime of day with almost any other food. If using this as a pizza crust, spread it fairly thin on a prepared pizza pan while it is still hot, let it cool, top and bake. (Place on parchment paper if you have a pizza pan with holes.) Cut into small bites for use as an appetizer and top with a ham, cream cheese & horseradish mix, caviar, liver pate or your favorite dip. The possibilities are endless. I hope you enjoy this versatile food! Thanks for dropping by!
  • 4
    photo credit: cheeseslave via photopin cc
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