Polenta

[DebbieH]

Great story DeQ! Thanks for sharing. BTW, I am probably the least finicky person in the world when it comes to FOOD! NOT a good thing at times! :7
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!

 

[Gayle]

For those interested, Recipe Source http://www.recipesource.com has about 75 polenta recipes online - like Sweet Potato Polenta, Polenta Pizza and Sweet Vanilla Polenta. Okay... the last one may not be "clean", but dang, it sure sounds good.

 

[DeQuendre]

Hi Debbie,

My husband is also very open and liberal about food. To me it seems he'll eat ANYTHING--among the most nauseating to me: cow anything (foot, tongue,intestine; frog anything; any practically live, raw thing in a shell.)There is this thing called souse; I think it's pig feet, but he kept telling me that his family used another animal, not sure which. But the worst, hope I don't offend, is this black pudding stuff. It's quite popular in some parts of the world. Correct me if I am wrong but it's some kind of sausage and bread thing, but the main ingredient is BLOOD. He would talk about how his mother and grandmother had to be careful when shopping for blood, and how it's prepared, and so on. I am open minded in every other way but this. My list of acceptable food just doesn't stretch too far. Okay sorry for taking this thread so far off course.

 

[Hotspur]

DeQ,
Is it blood pudding? If so, I used to eat it when I was a kid. My family's from Europe. My grandmother used to make it as well as bloodwurst. Thank God I don't eat it anymore. I even feel sick thinking about how I used to eat it as a child. I do like eating raw clams, and oysters. I don't eat other body parts of an animal i.e feet, tongue, cheek, brains, etc. That's disgusting. Where are you from?

 

[DeQuendre]

Yes, I hear the British call it blood pudding. My husband, from Dominica (a Caribbean island--lots of British and French influence), calls it black pudding. Oh goodness, what is bloodwurst? Funny thing is, I haven't met a single person who has had black/blood pudding who didn't absolutely love it until now. They all say it sounds gross but it's delicious.

 

[RhiannonW]

RE: Is Polenta supposed to be firm, like cornbread, or pastey?

Last night, I tried to make some and baked it for 60 minutes at 400 degrees. It wasn't firm.
What's the deal?

 

[briee]

RE: Is Polenta supposed to be firm, like cornbread, or pastey?

You and I both Rhiannon. I just found a recipe in vegetarian times that showed a picture of grilled polenta and it looked beautiful. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups fine yellow cornmeal, 1 1/4 tsp. salt and 1 tbs olive oil plus more oil for grilling. You combine 4 1/2 cups water cornmeal and salt, whisk well. Cook polenta, whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Add oil or butter and cook over low heat, stirring with wooden spoon and adding more water if necessary, a tablespoon at a time to keep polenta from becoming too thick (this sounds promising). Cook about 30 minutes. Scrape polenta into prepared pan (when I made mine from the other recipe it poured out) and smooth top. Cool, then cover pan and refridgerate overnight. Then you slice it in the morning and grill it by slicing into 1 inch slices and brushing each side with olive oil, 3-4 minutes on each side. The little grill lines make the polenta look gorgeous and they served it with ratatouille with chick peas. Hope this works, I'm trying this next.

Briee

 

[Debra L]

RE: Is Polenta supposed to be firm, like cornbread, or ...

I've only cooked polenta on the stovetop & have never seen a recipe for cooking polenta in the oven. Polenta can be like a thick soup (soft) or allowed to firm up. After it's firm, then it can be used in many ways including Briee's suggestion.

The cooking time & liquid needed to cook polenta (cornmeal) vary a lot. I'd follow the instructions on the package but it's probably going to take some experimenting. As the polenta gets to the consistency you want, taste it. If it still tastes raw, add more liquid & keep cooking. If you're going to serve it soft, you're going to use a lot more liquid. If you want it firm, let it get fairly thick & then pour it into an oiled container to firm. You can use a pie plate, casserole, a dinner plate, whatever. It'll firm quite quickly in the fridge.

The cornmeal mush recipe on the familiar Alber's cornmeal box is a good starter recipe. The recipe explains how to go from soft to firm. It's a bit coarser than the Italian polenta I buy & a lot cheaper.

Debra