Friday, May 30, 2008

P Is For Polenta.

As I stumble through the culinary alphabet, I decided to choose polenta for p. Now, I've made polenta dozens of times (And because of that I may choose another "p" food later on.) but I've always used cornmeal, not "polenta." Today, I'm using polenta. What's the difference, you ask? Well, let me show you.

Here's my box of polenta that I bought at a specialty market that was next to our hotel room in Chapel Hill last May when Mr. Hawthorne and I went to Daughter Hawthorne's graduation.
And I'm just getting around to using it now.



That's regular cornmeal on the left and polenta on the right.















Here's a close up of the cornmeal.














And this is a close up of the polenta.














The texture of the cornmeal is more like flour, whereas the polenta has a granular texture.


























I brought four cups of salted water to a boil and poured in my polenta.

Now, with cornmeal, I cook for about 25 minutes, stirring constantly.

With polenta, I cooked it for about 40 minutes, per instructions.






With both cornmeal and polenta, be careful when you first start cooking because they both bubble and spit a lot and IT.IS.PAINFUL.













Here's the polenta after 40 minutes.













I added about 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
I prefer Il Villagio, from Harris Teeter.















Next, I spread my polenta out in a buttered baking dish, covered it with plastic wrap, and refrigerated it over night.












Today, I sliced my polenta into little rectangles.



























Melted some butter (Land o' Lakes unsalted is the only kind I use.) and sauteed the polenta in a NON-STICK pan. Your pan, I've discovered, can make or break your polenta. If it's not non-stick, then your polenta will - guess what? - STICK to the pan and you'll never get that nice crust.






After a few minutes, turn them over.













These are lovely little corny cakes.












I keep turning my polenta over until they're nicely browned on both sides.















Aren't these pretty?
Crispy on the outside.
Creamy goodness on the inside.











I just wanted to show you what else is going on on my cook top today for lunch.
The polenta is in the middle, the back right is risotta, and the left is my mystery dish, which I will get to soon.

You must be patient.
Trust me. It'll be worth it.


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