Polenta

Cruncholi

Cruncholi

Cathlete
Hi Educated Crowd.

I have recently discovered how tasty polenta can be. Yesterday, I made up a big batch (8x8x2 pan) and am looking for ways to prepare it that are healthy. For tonight, I will eat it with some turkey chili I made yesterday, but I will have a lot more left over! Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
 
The chili topping is great, I like polenta with black bean chili. It's also good with ratouille (eggplant stew). You can top it with nearly anything you'd put on pasta including tomato sauce & pesto. The polenta is really good grilled too (obviously only the firm style). Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" & Katzen's "Still Life with Menus" have lots of polenta ideas.

Debra
 
Runathon,
Polenta is made of cornmeal and water. It is so easy to make. This is not the traditional method (which requires stirring over the stove for 45 minutes), but it tastes just as good...To 2 cups of yellow cornmeal, add 3 cups of cold water and stir. Boil 4 cups of water over the stove. When at a full boil, stir the cornmeal mixture into the water until it becomes a thick paste. Oil a baking pan (8x8x2 works) and pour the mixture into the pan. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 50 minutes.
 
Cruncholi, that is like making "Arepas!" Cornmeal patties with mozzarela cheese in the middle....anyone want me to tell them how to make it?? Deeeeelicious....:9, especially for breakfast, with hot chocolate! Hmmm, I am now hungry! :p :p :9

Blessings from our home to yours...Runathon
 
Only one taker.....welllll....:p

Arepas are Colombian (I am not, my husband is). You would need about 2 cups precooked cornmeal, about one cup milk (more or less), one large can of sweet creamed corn. Mix everything together until you get a "pasty" dough. Make patties (hamburger sized), put some butter (little bit) on a frying pan (medium heat) put the patties down, toast for about 5-10 minutes on that one side, flip to other side, sprinkle a little bit of sugar on the top and cover with a thin (not see-through thin, nicely thin) slice of mozzarella cheese. Let the arepa cook and the cheese melt for another 5 minutes or so and serve hot! This is my own version of arepa. It is delicious and healthier, too. :9 The original (like the ones they make in Colombia) are made with butter added into the mix with sugar and salt, etc., at least this is how I have seen my hubby's grandmother make them, and they do not taste as good as mine! My children love this breakfast. When you do the chocolate, use the hard chocolate that you have to break in bars, and evaporated milk. After it is done, add some strings of mozzarella cheese to the HOT chocolate so that it melts and you have the perfect combination: chocolate milk and arepas...the Colombian style (more or less ;-)).

If and when anyone outthere makes these, please let me know how they came out.

Blessings from our home to yours...Runathon
 
Wow... those sound absolutely delicious! I think I will have to try these very very soon.

We do breakfasts here at work every Friday - one person is designated for each week. These might be the perfect alternative to the usual donuts :D

Sara
 
Wow... those sound absolutely delicious! I think I will have to try these very very soon.

We do breakfasts here at work every Friday - one person is designated for each week. These might be the perfect alternative to the usual donuts :D

Sara
 
Thank you. This sounds really good. It sounds like something my mom used to get at a local bakery named Hough's (Cleveland Ohio area in the 60's) They were called corn toast 'ums and you popped them in the toaster to warm and slightly brown them. I used to put butter & jelly on them.

I have a kinda dumb question, what is pre-cooked cornmeal? The only kind of cornmeal I have any experience with is Dixie Lilly in the box that you use for southern style cornbread.

-joy
 
In the same section that they have the grits and cereals, look for a brand called "IBERIA" or "MAZAREPA" or thin-ground pre-cooked ornmeal. It is light-yellow in color. Remember that it must be thin-ground and precooked. The other kind does not work at all.

Glad you all like it! It really is good.



Blessings from our home to yours...Runathon
 
These sound sooooo good Runathon. I was going to head down and make them for dinner for the family, but then saw someone ask about "precooked" cornmeal. I don't have any cornmeal, but I can grind our own corn, but I guess this won't work eh? I will stick to the original polenta for tonight, I can use normal cornmeal with this correct??? (don't bother answering, I'm going down to try it right now and I will hold you responsible if it doesn't work }( ).

Briee
 
Arepas!

Hey Briee and everyone else interested....

I made the arepas this morning for breakfast and snack! Yup! Deeeelicious! You must have pre-cooked cornmeal because it makes an easy dough immediately. If you want a more sweet-corn taste to them, add two cans of the sweet cream corn and make your own mix (like, 3 cups cornmeal, 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 or 2 cans of sweet cream corn. You can even add sugar to the mix (I don't). When you form them, shape them in the form of a beef pattie, but not too thick. Cook them on the first side to the point they are getting a little bit brown and crunchy, not burned, crunchy. Then flip them over, sprinkle with a little bit of sugar if you want (I do) and add a slice of mozzarella cheese, then cover with a lid so that the heat will melt the cheese and voila!!!! Instant healthy breakfast! I am stuffed! Oh, I also made the hot chocolate with the mozzarella cheese inside and it was truly a magnificent breakfast with an additional cup of extra calcium orange juice! I even made extras for everyone's snack at school and work. Even the baby got one! :p :p :p :p

BTW, I had to send my hubby to the supermarket to get me some sweet cream corn! That is how much I wanted to make them! :9 :9
Blessings from our home to yours...Runathon
 
RE: Arepas!

Okay guys I made Linda's recipe above last night for dinner and it came out like mush, it was still good but did not slice or harden at all and I cooked it plenty long, I even tried to fry it and still it was mush. Should I just add less liquid next time? I made bean soup to poor over it and everyone still liked it, but it was not firm as it's supposed to be. Any feedback Linda?

Runathon, those sound so good, I'll have to get some soy cheese to try it!!!
 
Anyone make the Arepas yet????

I made them this morning for breakfast and was wondering if anyone had taken the plunge and made them? If so, how did they come out?

Blessings from our home to yours...Runathon
 
Briee

Hi Briee,
I am just getting your message now. That is so wierd that it came out like mush. When I made it it came out very firm and I could cut it and slice it. Do you live at an altitude? I cannot think of why it would have done that. You used 7.5 total cups of water, right?

Maybe you just need to cut down on the water a bit.

Sorry:-(
Linda
 
This is funny...I just had polenta for the first time in a restaurant on Sunday. I believe it was baked and contained red peppers and some kind of sharp Italian cheese - very tasty...it definitely had a "comfort food" quality about it.

It was also topped with a grilled Portabello mushroom and steamed spinach. :9 :9
 
**Note: My post disappeared on me so I am doing this for the second time, sorry if I put it someplace inappropriate.***

I was just relating how I am the lone dissenter on polenta, but my first polenta experience was a doozy. I was 17 years old and I had won a scholarship from White House Correspondents Association, which meant this big gala dinner with the President, Bush, Sr. The coordinator had told me what was on the menu, but I guess it slipped my mind because it was an immediate disappointment. There was filet mignon, and I haven't eaten beef since I was 12. Squash and Zuchini the only two veggies I can't stand. And there was polenta. I didn't know what it was at the time and theoretically it was the only thing on the plate that I could eat. So I dove in and almost gagged on the man next to me. Of course I was sitting at the table with these hotshots in politics and journalism. It was so embarrassing, but one of them sidles up to me and whispers, "I could go for some fried chicken right now." We had a good laughter.

Later, dessert was being served and it was the most beautiful chocolate creation I had ever seen. I was ready for the dismount, when I get a tap on the shoulder. It was time for me to have my handshake with the President. I never got to eat dessert, which means I didn't get to each much at all. I think I had some bread. I have avoided polenta like the plague since. I mean who hates broccoli but loves polenta? C'mon!

If you can't tell, I am the most finicky person I know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top