Northern Italy's Answer to Southern American Grits - It's a North/South Thing

Why call them grits? Dressed with garlicky greens and cheese, nestled under thick stews, eaten plain with a pat of butter and a grating of Parmigiano-Reggiano, polenta has a sexy appeal as an alternative to rice, potatoes, pasta, and my beloved starch, bread. Leftover polenta can be chilled overnight before being sliced and grilled, baked, fried, or broiled, whatever is to your liking that day.

Soft polenta has been my "it" food for the past few weeks, and my brain is just befuddled by all the combinations of lightly cooked vegetables, sauces, meats and seasonings that can turn a simple grain into a hearty and flavorful meal.

And might I add, polenta is also known as coarse cornmeal (or medium-coarse). I substitute either regularly for polenta, so if you cannot find a box or sack of polenta at your local grocer's, try looking for coarse or medium-coarse cornmeal. It cooks up the same.

To make polenta is not as daunting as some recipes will have one believe. In fact, after the first few minutes of stirring, I simply leave the polenta bubbling on the stove while I tend to other tasks. I of course give it a stir every few minutes, but I am not glued to the stove with my arm in constant motion praying for lump-free polenta. So dish up a bit of polenta. Figure roughly 1/2 cup of raw polenta per person and triple the amount of liquid per total measurement of raw polenta. Okay, I am making this more complicated and I see you are about to run screaming from the mere words of boiling, water, and polenta. Don't -- I'll break it down for you in recipe form:

Let's say for 2 ravenous people since that is my norm:

1 cup polenta (or coarse cornmeal)
3 cups water, stock, milk, or a combination of two or all
1/2 teaspoon salt (more if cheese will not be used)
1/2 cup or so grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino, Fontina, etc.
Pat of butter
Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the liquid and salt to a boil over medium heat. If you're using part or all milk, watch that it does not foam and run over the side of the pan. Whisk in the polenta by adding the polenta in a slow and steady stream to the boiling liquid. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to whisk for another few minutes. From here you can leave the polenta to simmer itself soft, but do give it a stir every few minutes so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Polenta will take up to 30 minutes to soften and absorb the liquid, but start checking it around the 20 minute mark. Taste a bite. Just stick your spoon in the pot. You are the cook, and you have to taste test. Once the polenta is soft enough, embellish it with cheese, pepper, butter, and finally, salt if it needs more. Remember that a lot of cheeses are salty, and likely you will be topping the polenta with a seasoned topping, so do not go nutty with the salt shaker. Pour polenta into serving dish and top with desired sauce, vegetables, or heck, just eat it as it straight from the pot as you will likely find me doing.

A few good toppings:

Soak a handful of dried mushrooms in white wine for an hour or so, drain, reserve liquid and chop
or
Clean and chop about a 1/2 pound mushrooms, wild, cultivated or a combination
1 or 2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, squashed and then chopped
1 big bunch of kale or Swiss chard or other winter green, chopped
1/4 cup white wine or the reserved wine used to soak the mushrooms

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Sauté mushrooms and garlic until mushrooms give up some juice. Add greens in bunches until they wilt a bit. Once all the greens are added, pour in the wine, bring to a simmer, and let mixture bubble a bit until the wine is almost evaporated and the greens are wilted and still a beautiful bright green, a few minutes. Top freshly made polenta with mixture. If using cheese in the polenta, Fontina is tops with a mushroom and kale combination.

Beans or bean stew is another hearty topping with polenta replacing the rice or potatoes. Adapting a recipe from Mark Bittman's Bitten Blog, last night I whipped up bean stew from my last package of Rancho Gordo's Good Mother Stallard Beans.

What Suzanne Had For Dinner

Published in Mark Bittman's Blog, Bitten, New York Times, on May 20, 2008, 12:55 pm


Good Mother Stallard Bean Stew
Yield 2 to 4 servings
Time At least 2 hours

Recipe by Suzanne Lenzer

Ingredients
1/2 pound Good Mother Stallard (or other good dried beans)
2 1/4- inch slices of pancetta, diced (Emilie used smoked bacon)
1 diced carrot
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary (Emilie used fresh sage)
A few handfuls of arugula, or another tender green
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the beans until tender, about 2 hours. Check them frequently -- they absorb liquid more quickly than most dried beans.

2. Sauté the pancetta (bacon) in a bit of olive oil until just golden. Add the diced onions and carrots and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the rosemary (sage).

3. Add the beans and about a quarter cup of their liquid. You can add more depending on how thick a stew you want. When the mixture is heated through, add the arugula and continue cooking until it’s wilted. Adjust the liquid to your taste, season with salt and pepper and serve.

I served this over soft polenta, and it was quite a hit with Shane. Leftover stew rested in the fridge overnight, and the stew's taste intensified. A good thing last night was even better for today's lunchtime leftovers.