This creamy polenta recipe comes collectively in a flash, thanks to 1 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 when you ask me, polenta deserves simply as a lot love. A north Italian porridge product of coarsely floor cornmeal, polenta is splendidly creamy, with a frivolously candy, buttery corn taste. In contrast to oat porridge, it’s not a conventional breakfast meals. Although I do eat it for breakfast now and again (see web page 49 of Love and Lemons Every Day!), I most frequently get pleasure from this clean, savory porridge for dinner. Topped with cheese, herbs, cooked greens, or a flavorful sauce, it transforms right into a mouthwatering consolation meals.
Beneath, you’ll discover my go-to methodology for making creamy, comfortable 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.
Methods to Make Polenta
Polenta has a repute for being a finicky dish – it could possibly take as much as an hour of stirring over the range, and it’s simple to finish up with a lump-filled mess as an alternative of a clean porridge. However once I need polenta, I need it now, so I developed a straightforward methodology for making creamy “prompt” 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 this methodology, you received’t make it some other means! Be aware: this methodology works completely with Bob’s Crimson Mill’s Coarse Floor Polenta.
After you pulse the cornmeal within the blender, sift via it together with your fingers to interrupt up any clumps. Then, convey 3 cups of water to a simmer in a saucepan, and steadily add the polenta, whisking consistently.
Add an extra cup of water to the pan and proceed to cook dinner, stirring, for quarter-hour. Scale 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. Take pleasure in!
Polenta Recipe Ideas
- Sift via the blended cornmeal earlier than you cook 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 giant lumps in your cooked polenta, sift via the blended cornmeal with a fork or your fingers to interrupt up any clumps.
- Whisk consistently as you pour the cornmeal into the boiling water. Lumps are the most important pitfall in making polenta, but it surely’s simple to keep away from them. Pour the cornmeal into the water steadily – NOT suddenly – and whisk consistently as you do it. The fixed whisking will evenly disperse the cornmeal grounds within the water, in order that they received’t have an opportunity to clump collectively.
- It’ll thicken because it sits. Cooked polenta thickens shortly, so when you don’t plan to eat it instantly, you’ll possible have to 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 sure 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 Ideas
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. Every so often, 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 means 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 mixed vegetables or zucchini, or with sautéed mushrooms.
- A punchy sauce is vital for remodeling this from a aspect dish right into a show-stopping entrée. I particularly prefer it with homemade 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 make polenta, strive making considered one of these wholesome cooking parts subsequent:
Creamy Polenta
Serves 4
This creamy, comfortable polenta is a scrumptious aspect dish or entrée! As a result of I pulse the cornmeal within the blender earlier than I cook dinner it, it comes collectively very quickly, so it is excellent 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 offers the polenta a creamy texture and helps it cook dinner quicker. Take away from the blender and run your palms via the dry polenta to verify there aren’t any lumps.
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In a medium pot, convey 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 regularly. In case your polenta could 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 take advantage of Bob’s Crimson Mill
