What is polenta and what can you make with it?
#169668 - 04/13/05 03:31 PM
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I bought some at the store cause it's gluten free...but I don't know what I bought or what to do with it  
Thanks for any advice/recipe ideas!
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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First of all, are there cooking instructions on the package? If so, follow those. If not, the general idea is this:
You work in a 4:1 proportion, so if you use 1 cup of polenta (plain ol' cornmeal works too), you'd use 4 cups of liquid.
Bring the liquid to a boil. You can use water... or you can use soy/rice/whatever milk or broth.
Mix the polenta with a bit of COLD water, just to moisten it. This keeps it from clumping when you combine it with the hot liquid.
Stir the polenta into the boiling liquid, and cook it over mediumish heat until it's very thick - you can almost stand a spoon up in it when it's ready. Stir it often, and cook it with a lid partially on the pot, because it will spatter once it starts to thicken.
It doesn't take long to cook at all... maybe 7 or 8 minutes, maybe less.
You can serve it as is, as "mush", hot. It makes a vaguely corny-flavored mashed-potato-esque sort of side dish, or it's good as a hot cereal in the morning, with syrup, honey, or fruit. It also makes a good base for stews, and it's really tasty with piles of sauteed vegetables on top.
You can also spread it in an oiled pan, chill it till it's firm, cut it into squares, and bake or broil the squares until lightly browned. Serve the squares with a good tomato sauce.
That's just a basic recipe, too. There are so many variations on it. I posted a recipe for Pumpkin Polenta on here not too long ago, and that was REALLY tasty. You can make them sweet, you can make them savory. It's pretty plain on its own, so you can get really creative with it. 
Was that at all helpful? LOL!
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It is good cut and grilled. Of course it is also good Jamie Oliver style- heaps of butter and parmesan. 
stupid fact: it is the same thing as Hasty Pudding.
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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This is GREAT info.!
I have another question tho...um...what is savory? What does that mean? I read it everywhere it seems and I have no idea what it means
Btw...if you e-mailed me recently I didn't get it. We were away looking for a new place to live (didn't work out) and I have over 500 new e-mails! So if you DID e-mail please let me know and I'll look for it (if not NO worries...I just don't want to miss out on anything you sent!!!!) 
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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I don't know Hasty Pudding is.... I must be TOTALY out of it
Hmm...what would you use to grill it? Sounds yummy!
Thanks Minnie 
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Formerly known as Ruchie
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Savory...
#169723 - 04/13/05 07:03 PM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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I won't bore you with a dictionary definition, but when I say "savory", I basically mean that you can spice it up a lot like stuffing, for example, and serve it as a side dish or dinner. (By contrast, you can also make it "sweet", with sugar and vanilla, and serve it as a breakfast or even a dessert.)
I imagine that when Tamara mentioned grilling, that she means you can take the chilled squares and toss them on the bbq grill, instead of baking or broiling. The stuff really does harden up *quite* firm when it's chilled completely, so I'm pretty sure that would work.
Don't worry - you didn't miss anything from me! I knew you'd be away, and I wasn't sure about how much you'd have to catch up with, so I figured I'd just wait till you got back! 500 emails, huh? That's nuts!
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Ok well follow Casey's instructions of making it and putting it in a pan and in the fridge. Then spray oil the grill and cut the polenta into triangles and grill lightly. If you make a roasted red pepper sauce with it that would be good. It unfortunately is one of those foods that begs for lots of parmesan! (the good stuff)- nuts!
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Did you buy it dry in a box, like flour, or is it soft in a plastic package, maybe in the fridge section? If it's the first, then you need to do what Casey said. If it's the second, then it's already prepared, and you can just slice it up and either heat/panfry it with a little PAM, or just warm it up in the microwave. I also like to grill it on the George Foreman.
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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