Yesterday I forgot to mention that this evening I am using the cornbread recipe I shared yesterday to bake corn muffins for the elementary school where I am office manager. Tomorrow is our big fund raiser, the Winter Faire, and my corn muffins, along with contributions from other volunteers, are going to be the perfect complement to the pots of chili Chef Ted is cooking up for the food station.
All this musing upon cornbread has induced me to develop a sincere hankering for polenta. When my mother was a little girl in Oslo in the early part of the twentieth century, polenta was considered a dessert. Farina-like, cornmeal was cooked with milk on top of the stove and served with sugar and cinnamon or, in the summer months, with berry puree. I don't remember her ever preparing it when I was growing up. When I first had polenta, it was served on a dinner plate with a rich osso bucco. A match made in heaven! The smooth and creamy polenta is a perfect vehicle for sopping up the savory sauce of any stew. When you're bored by having potatoes, rice or pasta at dinner, try serving polenta instead. Here is the basic recipe:
POLENTA
3 cups milk, stock or water (or any combination)
1 T butter
1 t sugar
1/2 t sea salt
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
2 T unsalted butter, melted
Combine the liquid, 1 tablespoon butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy saucepan; heat to a simmer. Slowly add the cornmeal, constantly whisking the mixture to keep it smooth. Lower the heat and continue to stir with a wooden spoon, until the polenta has thickened and leaves the sides of the pan, about 10 minutes. Serve with melted butter.
*Polenta is a blank canvas for your creativity. You can add grated cheese or chopped fresh herbs; or chopped sauteed wild mushrooms with fresh thyme leaves; crumbled cooked Black Forest bacon, Italian sausage or diced pancetta... you get the idea. We'll get into fried and grilled polenta on another day. The variations on basic polenta are only limited by your imagination.
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