| And stir and stir. A half hour to an hour later, depending on the fineness of the grind and how you like your polenta, you have dinner.
A Polenta Joke
Guisuppe and Emilia get married and spend their honeymoon night at the home of Emilia's widowed aunt. Aunt is downstairs stirring a big pot of polenta. Emilia comes running down the stairs.
"Auntie! Auntie!! He's taking off his shirt!
[these were the days before sex ed]
"Emilia, you have just gotten married. Everything is OK. Go upstairs and keep company with your nice young man and I will stirra the polenta."
Ten minutes later, here is Emilia again.
"Auntie! Auntie!! He's taking off his pants!"
"Emilia, you have just gotten married. Everything is OK. Go upstairs and keep company with your nice young man and I will stirra the polenta."
Auntie goes back to stirring but soon hears running feet.
"Auntie! Auntie!! He's got this THING and it's NINE INCHES LONG!"
Auntie puts down her spoon with a sigh.
"OK, Emilia. You stirra the polenta, and I will keep company with your nice young man."
[Back to cookery]
The women of Northern Italy are intelligent and busy and have no intention of spending all evening stirring polenta. Someone evolved an electric pot stirrer, which fits on top of your polenta pot and stirs while you do something more interesting. It is for sale in all the open air markets.
Someone else realized that polenta actually cooks quite nicely in the oven, with a minimum of stirring needed. If you are frugal, you also bake your dessert, a vegetable casserole, or your meat or fish at the same time. The oven warms up your house and adds to the ambiance.
Several companies have invented five minute polenta, and others cook it for you and sell it in plastic wrapped tubes. Traditional polenta organizations (there are a few) firmly believe that five minute polenta is the work of the devil, and people who cook polenta in the oven are barely worth speaking to. However, none of these worthy people are volunteering to come over and stir for me, so the polenta at my house cooks in the oven.
OVEN POLENTA:
1/2 cup medium grind polenta
Olive oil
Salt -1/4 tsp or to taste
2 cups cold water
Get a two quart casserole or cast iron saucepan
(my cast iron saucepan cost seven dollars at a flea market and also puts a nice crust on the bread I bake in it) Coat the inside with good olive oil and shake salt over the oil. Gently pour the two cups of water in the pot. Hold a fork in one hand and the measuring cup with the polenta in the other. Slowly pour the polenta in the water, beating with the fork. The object is to have no lumps.
Gently place the pot in the oven, set the timer for 20 minutes, turn the heat to 350 and work on the rest of your meal, or your homework, or whatever else you have to do. After 20 minutes, take the pot out of the oven, beat the contents 50 times with your fork and replace the pot in the oven. Check it after another 10 minutes, it should be done. You might want to beat it some more to fluff it up.
Top the polenta with kale sauteed in garlic laced olive oil, or mushrooms, or fresh sardines and a little tomato sauce. Dust it all with good Parmesan and serve up. |
