Tuesday, June 28, 2005

How many f'n things can you do with polenta?



Way back when, under some inspiration, MarianEvans bought a box of polenta to make. It sat on the shelf for weeks (maybe months). Finally, I said we had to make it; it might go bad, right? So she boiled it up and that night we had the "cream of wheat" style polenta, a soft, warm mash that tastes like whatever you dress it with. It quickly hardened in the pot and ME put the block in the fridge. There it sat for another week. What to do? It was rather imposing, a little odd looking. Here was this big orange-yellow block, just sitting there. Ok, something needed to be done, lest it rot and we waste most of it.
Mission one: I cut off a hunk of it and chopped it up into 1 1/2 inch pieces, trying to minimize a geometric appearance (when hardened polenta is cut, it cuts nice and smooth). I fried these up with sliced onions, cumin, salt n peppa. Not bad, served with a side of beans.
Still hadn't made a dent in the block which lurked in the fridge. Another week goes by.
Mission two: I used my new mandolin to slice off thin pieces, about 2 inches long and roughly square. These I placed on a baking sheet, sprayed with oil, dusted with cumin, salt n peppa (sensing theme here?) and placed under the broiler. Out came semi-crisp, sort-of-like-tortilla-chips bits of polenta. Not bad as a snack with some salsa.
Yet, still, there the hunk sat, about a third of its original splendor persisting.
Mission three: Fed up, I decided to do away with it all. I grated the rest finely. I grated onion and pressed some garlic. I mixed all this together, added some cumin, salt n peppa (hey hey!), some chopped cilantro, a bit of flour and an egg, in order to make it doughy/pasty. I formed 2 inch patties and fried em. Turned out to be like polenta-falafel. Not bad, really. Went well with a side of beans n rice.

Polenta, I know I've barely scratched the surface of your versatility, but think we've had enough for some time to come.

1 comment:

Bird On A Line said...

Wow, good ideas! I don't like the stuff very much and have only had it a couple of times (once with homemade marinara on top and another time as an appetizer at one of our cocktail parties, which didn't go over too well).