I posted the other day about the short ribs I made recently. I served them with creamy polenta instead of the more traditional mashed potatoes.
It's been some time since I made polenta on the stove. My go-to method is this baked polenta. Now I remember why - my goodness, polenta becomes like molten lava when it is cooking. That hot, viscous mixture bubbling up and exploding out of the pot is lethal! Happily the burns I sustained were minor.
Now I know that you really want to try this one out don't you?
Never heard of polenta?
Polenta is a porridge type dish popular in Northern Italy. In Italy it is often made with various ingredients, including cornmeal, ground rice, buckwheat, and chestnut flour. Here in North America, it is generally made exclusively with coarsely ground cornmeal. Think of polenta as an Italian version of grits.
Now about the lethal part - the secret is to cook slowly. My stove was too hot. If you cook at a low temperature you can avoid the spatters of hot polenta over the kitchen (and yourself . . . more the issue to be honest).
Honest, I tried it again to see if was always so mean a dish to prepare and it turns out at a lower temperature it is quite manageable. Lesson learned.
This recipe is flexible - you can sub broth for the water. You can also sub goat cheese for the cream cheese. I had some left over from Christmas that i wanted to use up so this is what I did.
Enjoy!
Creamy Polenta
4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or 1 teaspoon if using salted butter)
1 cup yellow polenta or coarsely ground cornmeal
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup cream cheese
Heat salted water (1 1/2 teaspoons of salt for 1 quart of water) to a boil over high heat in a thick-bottomed 2 or 3 quart pan. Slowly add the polenta into the boiling water, whisking while you add it to prevent any lumps from forming.
Lower the heat to a very low simmer and add the butter. Continue to whisk the polenta until it starts to thicken. Then cover the pan and let the polenta cook for 25 minutes. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon so that the polenta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. The polenta should be soft and tender when done. If not, let it cook a little longer.
Add the cream cheese and stir it into the polenta. Taste and add more salt if necessary. (You can also add more cream cheese if you want it to be even creamier.)
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