Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Chocolate Mint Wafers

Believe it or not but the vast majority of my Christmas baking is done. This is a record. In the end we made 54 types of cookies and squares.

Yes. We are insane.

In case you're wondering . . . at last count we had gone through 35 pounds of butter.

People say 'dear lord, what do you do with all of those cookies?'

The reality is that we give most of it away. I donated 18 dozen to the silent auction at work and they raised $ 100 for the Kid's Help Phone. We have given 9 large tins of cookies away as gifts already and there are about 12 more to go. Today I brought 4 platters with about 12 dozen cookies, squares, and tarts into the office - they were devoured in close to an hour.

Sure, some of them manage to sneak into my mouth but not many.

Anyway. One of the new recipes that we tried this year was these chocolate mint wafers. The recipe is from Taste of Home (sent to them by a Canadian who lives about an hour from us). To be honest i've thought of making them for a few years but generally have lost steam before I got around to it. For whatever reason this year I found the energy.

I'm glad that I did for these are wonderful cookies. If you're like me and you adore the combination of peppermint and chocolate you'll want to give these a try.

Chocolate Mint Wafers

2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
FILLING:
2-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup half-and-half cream
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Green food coloring

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add milk and egg; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

On a floured surface, roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a 1-1/2-in. cookie cutter and place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Combine filling ingredients; spread on bottom of half of the cookies and top with remaining cookies. Yield: about 7-1/2 dozen.

December Daring Cooks - Salmon en Croute

After a rather long break I'm back in the Daring Cooks 'fold'.  Fall was nuts but life seems to have returned to some calm normalcy (he says with the Christmas craziness upon us).

This month’s Daring Cooks challenge was chosen by Simone at JungleFrog Cooking. The challenge was to make salmon en croute – following a recipe from Good Food Online. Essentially Simone gave us two choices - a salmon en croute or a beef en croute. We went with the salmon because we need ot eat more fish. It seems that with the passing of BBQ season we've been eating far less fish than we should.

Simone provided a recipe for the short crust pastry. When I tried to make it the resulting pastry was impossible to use . . . this is why I ALWAYS buy pre-made pastry from the Mennonite ladies at the farmers market. I am sure that one day the pastry gods will forgive me but until then I shall continue to buy the stuff.

Simone's recipe was easy to follow and the result was delicious. Many of the Daring cooks have commented on how this dish was high on the 'wow' factor - making it a great choice for holiday entertaining!

Salmon en Croute

Mascarpone or cream cheese 5.2 ounces/150 gr
Watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach – 0.6 cup/4.2 ounces/120 gr
Shortcrust pastry – 17.6 ounces, 500 gr. 
Salmon fillet (skinless)- 17.6 ounce/500 gr
egg – 1 medium sized

1.Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well.

2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test whether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked. Serve with the rest of the watercress puree as a sauce.

Sunday Small Bites - Artichokes

The cooks on the slowtravel community forums have been working on a new cooking challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, smoked salmon, pecans, pumpkin, olives, mushrooms, ginger, cranberries, potatoes, and brie. This week Sharon selected our ingredient and she went with artichoke. Not surprising since she leaves near one of the major artichoke growing areas in the US.

Artichokes present a wee bit of a problem for Canadians - they aren't native. Fresh artichokes that one finds in the store aren't very tasty. The bottled ones that are preserved in oil often taste salty. Because of that I don't often use artichoke sin cooking. Then I heard about frozen artichoke hearts! I picked up two bags when I was in the US on the weekend and I was good to go.

I decided to make a tart that I found on the taste.au website. I didn't follow the recipe exactly - modifying it to go with the ingredients I had on hand.

The results were brilliant - by using thawed, ready to use puff pastry sheets (dear lord, when will they bring THESE to Canada????) the tart is on the table in less than 40 minutes. The combination of olive tapenade, artichoke and feta gave this tart such a wonderful taste! Very easy, tasty and quick recipe.

This makes it a 'keeper'.

Olive, Artichoke, and  Feta Tart

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, just thawed
(1/2 cup) black olive tapenade 
3/4 cup cooked artichoke hearts, drained, quartered 
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
1 cup natural (plain) yoghurt
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 tsp coarsely chopped fresh basil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Line a fluted tart tins (9 " round or a rectangle tin), with removable bases, with pastry and trim any excess. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until pastry puffs and is golden. Remove from oven. Cover pastry with a clean tea towel and push down on the base with your hands to flatten (be careful as the puff pastry is full of HOT steam!).

Spread base with tapenade. Top with artichokes and feta.

Whisk the yoghurt, egg and basil together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the artichoke/feta mixture. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes or until just set.

 Remove from oven. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Linzer Cookies

The Christmas baking continues . . .

At one time we baked from recipes passed down from one generation to the next or from recipes given to us by friends and neighbors. Today we have access to recipes from around the world and are able to cross boundaries and bake desserts that were once unfamiliar to us. An example of this is the Linzertorte which is one of Austria's most famous desserts. Believed to have originated in the City of Linz, written recipes began to appear in the early 1700s. Traditionally this torte consisted of a crust made with flour, ground nuts (traditionally almonds), sugar, egg yolks, spices and lemon zest that was filled with preserves (traditionally black currant) and then topped with a lattice crust

Linzer Cookies use the same ingredients as the Linzertorte but present them in a different way; that is, two cookies are sandwiched together with a layer of preserves or jam. Traditionally these cookies are filled with black currant preserves but as black currant preserves are hard to find in North America we usually fill them with a variety of different flavored preserves, most notably raspberry. The top cookie, dusted with confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, has a cutout so the preserves are visible.

A few years ago I picked up a set of linzer Christmas cookie cutters but never used them. I imagined that it was a complicated thing to do so the box of cutters sat in the back of the cupboard gathering dust.

This year I seem to be ahead of myself when it comes to baking. Feeling the freedom of extra time (and plenty of vacation days) I decided to pull the cutters out from their hiding spot where they had been languishing and try this famous cookie myself. Of course you know what happened - I discovered that they were not all that hard to make and am kicking myself for not having attempted this treat sooner!

I found this recipe, based upon one by Dorie Greenspan,  online - it uses all of the traditional ingredients of linzertorte execpt for the lemon zest.

If you have a set of these cutters hiding away ( or even if you don't - I've included the instructions for what to do if you do not have the special cutters) you should pull them out and give these gems a try!

Linzer Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking

Makes about 20 to 24 sandwich cookies

1 1/2 C ground almonds or hazelnuts
1 1/2 C AP flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Raspberry or strawberry jam
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

If you're starting from raw hazelnuts, toast them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Then transfer them to a kitchen towel and use to towel to rub off as much of the skin as possible. Transfer the skinned hazelnuts to a bowl and shake out the towel outside so the skins don't fly everywhere.

If you're starting with raw almonds, follow these instructions to blanch them. Squeeze the nuts out of the skin and toast them in a 350 degree oven until they are dry and lightly golden but not browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Cool the nuts completely before grinding them. Pulse them in a the food processor until they are finely ground.

Whisk the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, salt and salt together in a mixing bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the vanilla and almond extract. Add half of this to the butter, beat and scrape down the bowl, beat until combined then add the rest of the egg mixture. Continue to beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and continue mixing until all the ingredients have been combined.

Divide the dough in half, shape each piece into a disc, and wrap in plastic wrap and chill, 2 hours in the fridge or 45 minutes in the freezer (the dough can be stored for in the fridge for 3 days or 2 months in the freezer).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Keep one disc of dough in the fridge and roll out the other disc. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 in thick. Cut out as many cookies as the dough can fit. Gather up the scraps with the second disc of dough and continue to roll out the dough and cut out the cookies. Cut out the centers of half the cookies.

Transfer the cookies to the baking sheet and bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until the cookies are golden, dry, and firm to the touch. The cookies don't spread so they don't have to be spaced out too far apart. Cool the cookie sheets completely before baking a second batch.

Heat up some jam in the microwave or on the stove top until it is warm. Spread about a half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of jam on the cookie and place a cookie with a cutout center on top. Lightly dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Jamie Oliver's 6 Hour Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

One of the curious things about blogging is that everything that you type eventually gets released on the web. This means that anyone may access the information - if you're seeking anonymity blogging is NOT the pastime!

Most search engines search for individual words or strings of words. Given that most of the folks out there seem to use the Internet looking for porn inserting words into a post that will likely be used by the perverted millions will generate a good deal of traffic to your site. I won't suggest what those words might be - I am sure that your imagination will be able to fill in appropriate noun, adjectives, and verbs!

Most of my traffic comes from a different sort of searcher - the searchers who use the web as a huge cookbook. I count myself amongst that group. In my experience, nothing brings folks to your blog as much as a post about Jamie Oliver's slow roast pork. This search term (and a few variations) brings hundreds of hits per week to my blog. Clearly Jamie's roasted pork has hit a nerve out there.

At the risk of being accused of trying to generate even more traffic to my blog I am posting ANOTHER slow roast pork recipe that is courtesy of Jamie Oliver. No, I am not prostituting myself (there's a phrase that aught to bring the dirty minded folk here - won't they be disappointed!) as I couldn't care a less about the traffic. Paul made this roast for dinner last week and it was brilliant so of course I need to share!

If you make this you'll suffer through the most amazing smells wafting through the house. The pork almost melts in your mouth because It is so tender and the garlicky gravy . . . WOW. Yes, it is suffering to wait until the roast is finished slowly cooking in its own juices but it sure is worth it when you tuck into dinner.

We served this roast with mashed potatoes and braised red cabbages with apples. All in all it was a brilliant Sunday night dinner.

6 Hour Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

 2kg bone-in shoulder of pork, skin on
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 red onions, halved
2 carrots, peeled and halved length ways
2 sticks of celery, halved
1 bulb of garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
6-8 fresh bay leaves
600ml water or vegetable stock

Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side up. Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that you cut into the meat. If the joint is tied, try not to cut through the string. Rub salt right into all the scores you’ve just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you need to.

Brush any excess salt off the surface then turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Place your pork, skin side-up, in a roasting tray and pop in the preheated oven. Roast for 30 minutes, until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling. At this point, turn the heat down to 170°C/325 F/gas3, cover the pork snugly with a double layer of tin foil, pop back in the oven and roast for a further 4 and a half hours.

Take out of the oven take the foil off, and baste the meat with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board. Spoon all but a couple of tablespoons of fat out (save it for roast potatoes!)

Add all the veg, garlic and bay leaves to the tray and stir them into the fat. Place the pork back on top of everything and return to the oven without the foil to roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.

Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover again with tin foil and leave to rest while you make your gravy. Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place the tray on the hob. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom of the tray. When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy,pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve. Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it.

Serve the pork and crackling with your jug of gravy and some lovely roast potatoes (As a treat you can try roasting them in the fat you spooned out of your roasting tray. Some stewed red cabbage and a dollop of apple sauce will finish this off perfectly).

Sunday Small Bites - Brie

The cooks on the slowtravel community forums have been working on a new cooking challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, smoked salmon, pecans, pumpkin, olives, mushrooms, ginger, cranberries and potatoes. This week Sandi selected our ingredient and she went with brie. There goes the diet!

It was hard to find a brie recipe that I liked. So many of them involved lots of butter, brown, sugar, and other bad stuff. Don't get me wrong - sweet brie appetizers are really, really good but it sure isn't what I should be eating right now.

I had decided to make a brie and apple soup that I planned on serving in shot glasses with apple chips as a garnish. Then we spent the day making 59 dozen cookies. The soup plan went out the window! I needed something quick and easy. Enter these tarts . . .

The original recipe called for prepared phyllo cups - something that is a challenge to find here in Canada. Happily I had a sheet of puff pastry in the fridge so I used that instead. This added significantly to the fat content of the tarts but all things in moderation . . .

The result was excellent. These tasted great and were quick. Another one of those recipes that is far more impressive than the amount of effort needed to get it on the table would warrant.

Brie and Leek Tarts

1 medium leek (white portion only), finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Dash salt and white pepper
Dash ground nutmeg
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
2 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed

In a small skillet, saute leek in butter until tender. Add the garlic; cook 1 minute longer.
Stir in the cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened.

Cut the sheet of puff pastry into 12 squares. Place a square of pastry into each cup of a small muffin pan. Fold the pastry so that it forms a shell.

Slice cheese into 12 pieces; place one piece in each tart shell. Top each with 1-1/2 teaspoons leek mixture.

Bake at 425° for 10 - 15 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden. Refrigerate leftovers (if there are any!). Yield: 12 appetizers.

Chocolate-tipped Butter Cookies

It is beginning to seem like Christmas around here - well, except for the weather but there is no way I'll be complaining about THAT! No. Not ever.

The lights are up, the house is decorated, I attended the first of many planned Christmas parties last night, and today was the first vacation day I took off of work so that I could bake. Thank heavens I have the flexibility to take vacation time to get ready for Christmas. That is another thing that you won't see me complaining about!

I was busy today. I made David Lebovitz's incredible Chocolate Matzoh Crunch and 6 types of cookies. I do believe I know why my back hurts and I feel exhausted.

Hmmm

One of the cookies that I made today was a 'new' recipe. When I was surfing about on the net I saw a picture of a cookie that looked like one my grandmother used to make. There is something about the happy festive memories at Grandma's house that made me want to attempt these. The cookies were easy to make and I hate to say it . . . better than I remembered!

Mind you - I dipped the cookies in bittersweet chocolate. As anyone will tell you - everything is better with bittersweet chocolate! I doubt that Grandma had even heard of bittersweet chocolate!

The cookies themselves are like a rich shortbread which you then dip in chocolate. Before the chocolate solidifies you sprinkle the dipped end with chopped nuts (we used peanuts) and then you set them aside to cool (if you can wait! LOL).

Lord. These were good. I think that we have a new festive tradition in our house!

Chocolate-tipped Butter Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (6 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Cream butter; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. stir in vanilla extract. Gradually add flour; mix well. Divide dough into sixths; cover and chill dough 1 hour.

Work with one portion of dough at a time, keeping remaining dough chilled. Shape dough into 2 1/2 x 1/2-inch sticks. Place on un-greased cookie sheets. Flatten three-quarters of each cookie lengthwise with tines of a fork to 1/4 inch thickness. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 14 minutes.

Remove to wire racks to cool.

Combine chocolate chips and shortening in top of a double boiler; bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook until chocolate melts, stirring occasionally. Remove double boiler from heat, leaving chocolate mixture over hot water. Dip un-flattened tips of cookies in warm chocolate to coat both sides; roll tips in chopped pecans. Place cookies on wire racks until chocolate is firm.

Arrange cookies between layers of wax paper in an airtight container; store in a cool place.

Short Rib Ragu

I cooked up a huge pot of short ribs last week which were incredible. Funny thing is though that as much as I liked the results, I didn't want to eat it day in and day out. Don't get me wrong .  . . it wasn't the ribs - I just don't like leftovers over and over again. I blame my upbringing - we were poor and food lasted until mom had wrung every possible dish possible out of it. ICK

Generally when I have more of something than we can possibly eat we just place it in a container and freeze it for later use. I can't do this these days because the freezers are being emptied out  to make room for other stuff. Yes, I was on the horns of a dilemma.

Of course it wasn't a significant dilemma that will impact the world but it sure made us think here. Frankly if this is the extent of the dillemmas that I have to face I am a happy guy. Others can deal with the weighty issues of the world - I need a break from solving problems for a spell.

Anyway, I digress (if only I had a dollar for every time I have said THAT!)

I found this recipe for a ragu made out of leftover short ribs. I've had something like this at my favourite Toronto Italian restaurant - Tutti Matti and liked it so much that I was convinced to give it a try. We didn't have any pappardelle but I have packages of other types of pasta so rather than buy something new I just used some of that up.

This was incredible! The pasta had a rich taste and the subtle layers of flavour that is so characteristic of true Italian cooking. If you find yourself with some leftover short ribs you want to give this a try!

Short Rib Ragu

2 large braised short ribs, shredded (I think that this was about 2 cups of shredded meat)
1 1/2 - 2 cups sauce from braised short ribs
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon oregano (i used dried)
1 bay leaf
1 - 28oz. can crushed san marzano tomatoes
1/2 cup cream (or milk)
salt & pepper
8 oz. pappardelle pasta
shaved parmesan & chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot and celery, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables become tender, approx 6-8 min. Add the garlic, thyme, oregano and bay leaf and sauté for another minute. Add the shredded short ribs, short rib sauce and tomatoes. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 min., covered. Add the cream and simmer for another couple minutes. Remove the thyme stems and bay leaf.

Season to taste.

Cook the pappardelle pasta according to the package. Serve w/ shaved parmesan and freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.

Sunday Small Bites - Potatoes

The cooks on the slowtravel community forums have been working on a new cooking challenge - instead of each of us preparing the same recipe each week, we are preparing our own appetizer - or Small Bite - that uses a specific main ingredient. So far we have tackled shrimp, crab, sun-dried tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, smoked salmon, pecans, pumpkin, olives, mushrooms, ginger, and cranberries. This week Maria selected our ingredient and she went with potatoes. There goes the diet! LOL

We restrained ourselves this week and only enjoyed one (yes, one) small bite selection! I was making a short rib ragu for the main course so we looked for a potato small bite recipe that was Italian to fit the 'theme' of the meal.

I found one in David Rocco's cookbook David Rocco's Dolce Vita called Crocchette di Patate (Potato Croquettes) that 'called' out to me. What was not to love? Mashed potatoes, cheese, breaded and then fried. . . .

Don't these look delicious?

The croquettes were easy to make and the taste was incredible. It never ceases to amaze me how a few simple ingredients can be mixed together to produce such delicious results!

Clearly this isn't a traditional Italian recipe as potatoes weren't native to Italy. Mind you, neither was pasta until Marco Polo brought it back from China. However, I have seen these crisp bites with gooey cheese on the menus of many Italian restaurants and even enjoyed them previously in Torino. I suspect that somewhere along the way nonna was looking for a way to use up leftover potatoes and experimented with a potato arancini and the rest was history. With a taste as good as this you know that they would catch on quickly! LOL

So it was a very happy history!

Crocchette di Patate

1.3lb potatoes (600g), peeled
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano cheese (120ml)
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (120ml)
2 eggs
1 mozzarella ball, cut into thin strips (you can also use taleggio)
1 cup breadcrumbs (240ml)
Sesame seeds
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil for frying

Boil potatoes until fork tender and let cool for 20 minutes. In a large bowl, mash potatoes. For a creamier texture, use a potato ricer.

Add freshly grated parmigiano cheese, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, one egg and mix well until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Grab a handful of mashed potatoes and create logs that are 1 1/2 inch thick by 3 inches long. With your finger, create an indentation in the middle of the log and add a slice of mozzarella. Close up the logs and make sure mozzarella is fully covered. Reshape if necessary.

Dip potato logs in a beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs. Roll in sesame seeds.

Fry in hot extra virgin olive oil until the potato croquettes are crispy and golden brown.

Let cool on a paper towel and serve warm.

NOTE: These can be shaped into little balls, like arancini for a great cocktail snack.

Next up?

Brie!

MMM

Creamy Polenta

Yesterday I posted the amazing slow braised short rib recipe that was shared by Ree Drummond, the self-declared Pioneer Woman. Her recipe sounded similar to another that I had made in the past - except for the addition of the goat cheese. I love goat cheese so I was looking forward to trying this with the short ribs.

Polenta is a very versatile staple to incorporate into your meals. Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize) originally made with Chestnut meal in ancient times. It can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired. When boiled, polenta has a smooth, creamy texture due to the gelatinization of starch in the grain, though it may not be completely homogeneous if a coarse grind or a particularly hard grain such as flint corn is used (or if you don't pour the cornmeal sloooooowly into the boiling liquid).

Polenta was originally and still is a peasant food. However, since the late 20th century, polenta has also become a premium product. Polenta dishes are on the menu in many high-end restaurants, and prepared polenta can be found in supermarkets at high prices. Many current polenta recipes have given new life to an essentially bland and common food, invigorating it with various cheeses or tomato sauces.

I confess that I have never seen the benefit of purchasing the tubes of prepared polenta as it is so easy to make your own. Perhaps this trend is because of polenta's inherent hazard . . . it spatters like an erupting volcano as it bubbles away. You only need to be splattered once with boiling hot polenta to take care in the future.

Once you've recovered you've learned your lesson for good and it is easy stirring from then on.

Creamy Polenta

1 cup finely ground Yellow Cornmeal
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Butter
4 ounces, weight Goat Cheese

Bring 4 1/2 cups water to a boil.

Add cornmeal to the water in a thin stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.

Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, adding salt and extra tablespoons of water as needed. NOTE - fine or instant cornmeal is ready far more quickly - generally in about 5 minutes in my experience.

When polenta is done, stir in butter and goat cheese. Check seasonings (we added 1 tsp of fresh basil, chopped), and add salt to taste.

Serve with your favorite meat main course.

Note: leftover polenta quickly becomes a solid as it cools. Be sure to pour it out of the pot into some sort of a container before it cools. We generally place it in a 9x4 inch baking pan. Once it is cool we can slice hunks of polenta out for leftovers (more on this later . . .). It seems to last for a long time in the fridge.