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Polenta is a common Italian ingredient and is basically corn meal. For many years it was one of those things that I didn’t really like but thought I should eat more of as an alternative to the likes of rice, potatoes, pasta and bread. The problem was that the recipes I had were either bland (it is generally an accompaniment, after all) or required too much effort and time.

Then one day when I was buying some, the lady serving me asked how I was going to cook it. When I told I wasn’t really sure, she suggested cooking as per the directions on the packet and then at the end stirring in some sour cream and grated parmesan. So I tried that and found it to be very tasty and I have used that recipe many times.

More recently, I varied that to include mushrooms and onion and that essentially makes a quick and easy lunchtime snack. Here is the recipe.

Savoury Polenta

Ingredients

1/2  dozen mushrooms
1  medium onion
1  clove garlic
2  cups polenta
4 cups water
1  chicken stock cube
1  beef stock cube
300 ml sour cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
oil for frying

Method

1. Chop mushrooms into reasonable small pieces
2. FInely chop onion
3. Gently fry chopped onion, mushrooms and garlic
4. Remove from heat and set aside
5. Bring the water to the boil. Add the stock cubes and stir till dissolved.
6. While the water is boiling pour in the polenta stirring sonstantly.
7. When all the polenta has been added, continue to stir polenta frequently.  The water will be absorbed into the polena and as it thickens you will find that it causes large bubbles – be careful as the polenta can splatter and burn you. You may find it better to reduce the heat when it reaches this stage.
8. Once the polenta has been cooked, add the mushrooms, onion, garlic, sour cream and grated parmesan and stir into the polenta.
9. Heat through, and serve.  This can form a dish in its own right or you can serve it as an accompaniment to another dish.

Variations

If you just want plain polenta but with a bit of flavour, you leave out all of the other ingredients and just cook it in stock.

There is also nothing to prevent you using other ingredients such as chopped, cooked vegetables etc instead of or in addition to the mushrooms.

You can leave out the sour cream and once the polenta is cooked, put it on a baking tray in a 1 cm thick layer and bake in a moderately hot oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into squares or slices. Again, this can be served as finger food or as an accompaniment to a main dish.

Tips

As I want to reduce the amount of washing up, I usually fry the onions etc in the saucepan I intend to use for the polenta. After removing the cooked onion, I put the water in the saucepan with out washing it out. It may look a little oily but all you are doing is allowing a little of the onion flavour to permeate the water you are going to cook the polenta in – and you are going to add the onion to it later anyway.

You may have to adjust the amount of water depending on how dry or moist you like it, and depending on the brand of polenta. Once you have made it a few times you will know how much to add according to your taste.

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