Locally Carei: Perfecting polenta
Over the weekend, I did a polenta pour. It was to celebrate the success of the Washington Farmers market. I prepared the polenta, while the farmers supplied the ingredients and toppings. There was tomato sauce, cheeses, meats, chicken cacciatore, beef stew and roasted vegetables to name a few items. I made both soft polenta and hard polenta.
Polenta is a porridge of typically yellow cornmeal. It is similar to grits and made in the same manner as grits, hasty pudding, farina, masa, Indian pudding and mush. The size of the grain meal determines your cooking time and consistency. The smaller the grain the smoother the porridge, while the larger the grain the fluffier it is.
Polenta was a mainstay in the Italian diet, especially for the poor. The northern Italians seemed to make the hard polenta, while southern preferred the soft style.
There is no difference in cooking hard versus soft polenta. They are cooked the same way and usually same cooking time. With the soft, you would serve right away and the hard you would allow to cool and to cut for grilling, frying or baking. For a correct hard polenta, you will need to be diligent with your stirring as it will allow the starch to become gelatin like. This will hold it together when cooled.
Polenta is both flexible and forgiving. It is impossible to give an exact cooking time due to the size of the grain and the influences on the cornmeal. 45 minutes is a starting point, you can serve soft as soon as 30 minutes of cooking. The coarse ground that I used, took about 1 hour for me. The best was to see if polenta is done, is when it pulls away from the side of the pot when stirring.
The cooking time is determined by the freshness of the polenta is, the type of corn from which it is made and the method by which it is ground, how fine or coarse the grain, its moisture content, and where it has been stored. Further, the degree of heat is crucial. If the heat is high, liquid will evaporate more quickly than it will be absorbed, requiring the addition of water and lengthier cooking.
If, initially, you add more water than necessary, additional time will be necessary to evaporate excess liquid. The rule of thumb is 4 parts water to 1 part grains. For mine, I needed about 4.5 to 1 part. Polenta is often cooked in a huge copper pot called a paiolo in Italian. However, you can use any pot. You can use salted water, chicken stock or some choose milk as their liquid. Milk will mask some of the corn taste, while salted water brings out the most corn taste. You can add cornmeal when liquid is cold or hot, but adding when cold requires more stirring.
I always add using my hands and letting grains fall through my fingers while whisking. This is the best way to avoid lumps. Then you stir. A friend, Norma Ryan, told me that her dad once told a visitor that he used lots of wine for cooking polenta. The visitor looked at him and said his family used salted water. Mr. Marcolini told him that the wine was for drinking, because it took so long to stir. Other families used polenta a disciplinary tool or called it 鈥榯he baby sitter鈥�. You could keep a child busy and out of trouble, for an hour, stirring.
Once your polenta is ready, serve with whatever suits your fancy. There is no right or wrong additions. The number one way is with tomato sauce: but topping with grilled meats, seafood and vegetables, multitude of cheeses, or other types of sauce is correct, too. Do something different; make a polenta sandwich, polenta lasagna and even cut like french fries and deep fry. The sky蘑菇视频 the limit.
If you plan on making polenta often, switch stirring arms occasionally. You don鈥檛 want one arm looking like popeye鈥�
Joe蘑菇视频 Polenta
1 cup coarse cornmeal
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon salt
陆 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter divided
4 陆 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.
Sweat onion and garlic in butter. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Pour in cornmeal slowly, while whisking. Reduce heat to medium. Whisking to reduce lumps. Stir often, while making sure it does not boil. Check consistency after 45 minutes. If ready add remaining butter and cheese. Serve or pour into pan for cooling.