This creamy polenta recipe comes collectively in a flash, thanks to at least one easy prep step. Serve it as a aspect dish, or add flavorful toppings to make it a meal.
Everybody raves about Italian pasta and pizza, however in case you ask me, polenta deserves simply as a lot love. A north Italian porridge manufactured from coarsely floor cornmeal, polenta is splendidly creamy, with a calmly candy, buttery corn taste. Not like oat porridge, it’s not a standard breakfast meals. Although I do eat it for breakfast once in a while (see web page 49 of Love and Lemons Each Day!), I most frequently get pleasure from this easy, savory porridge for dinner. Topped with cheese, herbs, cooked greens, or a flavorful sauce, it transforms right into a mouthwatering consolation meals.
Under, you’ll discover my go-to methodology for making creamy, mushy polenta very quickly, plus my favourite methods to serve it. Attempt it as soon as, and it’ll have a everlasting place in your rotation of potatoes, pasta, and bread. It’s easy, wholesome, and, most significantly, scrumptious.
How you can Make Polenta
Polenta has a popularity for being a finicky dish – it may possibly take as much as an hour of stirring over the range, and it’s straightforward to finish up with a lump-filled mess as a substitute of a easy porridge. However once I need polenta, I need it now, so I developed a straightforward methodology for making creamy “instantaneous” polenta.
Earlier than I begin cooking, I pulse the cornmeal within the blender in order that the granules are much less coarse. Made with this superb cornmeal, polenta is additional creamy, and it cooks in a fraction of a time. When you do that methodology, you gained’t make it some other approach! Be aware: this methodology works completely with Bob’s Crimson Mill’s Coarse Floor Polenta.
After you pulse the cornmeal within the blender, sift by way of it together with your fingers to interrupt up any clumps. Then, deliver 3 cups of water to a simmer in a saucepan, and regularly add the polenta, whisking continually.
Add an extra cup of water to the pan and proceed to prepare dinner, stirring, for quarter-hour. Cut back the warmth as wanted if the polenta begins to boil. If the porridge turns into too thick, stir in as much as 1/2 cup extra water.
Flip off the warmth and add a glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Let it stand, lined, for five minutes earlier than you eat. Get pleasure from!
Polenta Recipe Suggestions
- Sift by way of the blended cornmeal earlier than you prepare dinner it. After you pulse the cornmeal within the blender, the superb grounds will generally tend to stay collectively. To keep away from ending up with massive lumps in your cooked polenta, sift by way of the blended cornmeal with a fork or your fingers to interrupt up any clumps.
- Whisk continually as you pour the cornmeal into the boiling water. Lumps are the largest pitfall in making polenta, but it surely’s straightforward to keep away from them. Pour the cornmeal into the water regularly – NOT all of sudden – and whisk continually as you do it. The fixed whisking will evenly disperse the cornmeal grounds within the water, in order that they gained’t have an opportunity to clump collectively.
- It’ll thicken because it sits. Cooked polenta thickens rapidly, so in case you don’t plan to eat it straight away, you’ll possible must skinny it earlier than you serve it. Reheat the thickened polenta on the range over low warmth, including extra water or olive oil, as wanted, to skinny it to your required consistency. Be certain to style and alter the seasonings earlier than you serve it. After you add the additional liquid, it’ll possible want one other pinch of salt.
Polenta Serving Recommendations
Polenta is a unbelievable clean canvas for flavorful toppings. Most easily, I get pleasure from it as a aspect dish with a bathe of grated Parmesan cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Occasionally, I’ll add roasted chickpeas or toasted pine nuts for crunch. In any other case, I’ll high it with a cooked veggie and a punchy sauce to make it a meal by itself:
- Cooked veggies are the proper approach so as to add hearty texture, richness, and taste to creamy polenta. Attempt pairing it with roasted broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, butternut squash, or cauliflower, with grilled blended greens or zucchini, or with sautéed mushrooms.
- A punchy sauce is essential for remodeling this from a aspect dish right into a show-stopping entrée. I particularly prefer it with home made marinara sauce, pesto, or chimichurri.
How do you prefer to serve polenta? Let me know within the feedback!
Extra Cooking Fundamentals
In the event you cherished studying how one can make polenta, strive making one in every of these wholesome cooking elements subsequent:
Creamy Polenta
Serves 4
This creamy, mushy polenta is a scrumptious aspect dish or entrée! As a result of I pulse the cornmeal within the blender earlier than I prepare dinner it, it comes collectively very quickly, so it is good for busy nights.
- 1 cup stone-ground polenta*
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups water, divided
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, extra to style
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In a blender, pulse the dry polenta to make the granules much less coarse. This provides the polenta a creamy texture and helps it prepare dinner sooner. Take away from the blender and run your palms by way of the dry polenta to verify there aren’t any lumps.
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In a medium pot, deliver 3 cups of water to a excessive simmer. Slowly whisk within the polenta. Add 1 extra cup of water and simmer for quarter-hour, stirring steadily. In case your polenta may be very thick, whisk within the remaining ½ cup water. The polenta needs to be creamy.
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Flip off the warmth and whisk within the olive oil and sea salt. Cowl and let stand for five minutes. Season to style and serve scorching.
*I exploit Bob’s Crimson Mill
