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Ask the Expert: Maggie Gilbert
Polenta – UHC TV
I have a question about polenta. What is it, and how do you cook it? Polenta is a very simple thing. It’s really just cornmeal. So, this is what it looks like. Basically, it’s just regular cornmeal you can buy in the grocery store. You can also buy it packaged, called polenta, in Italian grocery stores or in the Italian section of a regular the grocery store. The grain might be a little finer or a little more coarse—depending on what kind you like. That’s really the difference. Basically, it’s cornmeal. It’s cooked in a liquid and can be served in a couple of different ways.
One is to server it soft, and the proportion of liquid to cornmeal is somewhere between four and five cups of liquid to about one cup of cornmeal. But, I would definitely look at specific recipes for that because it’s going to make a difference for how thick or thin your polenta is. So basically, bring your liquid to a boil—that might be water with salt in it or it might be something like chicken broth. And then, you gradually pour in your cornmeal. Then, you take a whisk and you whisk pretty vigorously to make sure it doesn’t have any lumps, and you keep slowly adding the cornmeal until it’s all in. You whisk and whisk, and it gets thick very, very quickly. You turn the heat to low and you keep cooking and stirring every so often until it’s nice and thick and all the cornmeal has absorbed the water or liquid. Then, you can add butter to it. You can add cheese to it, and serve it just as is—kind of spoon it out onto plates. Serve it fairly quickly because again it will harden kind of fast.
The other way that I really love is to do the same thing I just said but then pour it into some kind of a pan. Any pan will do. It will take whatever shape you do. I’ve got a round pan, so it’s kind of a cake pan. I poured it in there, let it cool, and refrigerated it. Then, I’m going to cut it into pieces and sauté it. It’s really, really good that way. So, I made the polenta. I added a little bit of butter and little olive oil to it. I poured it in. I put a little bit of plastic wrap in the bottom, so now I can just lift it right out. And see, it will take the mold of whatever you do. Right like this. Then, I can cut it into wedges—in this case because it’s round. If I had a square piece, I could do triangles; I could do little squares. Then, I would take this and set it in a pan. I used a little grill pan and put a little olive oil at the bottom, and I just heated it up. I got it all crispy on the outside and nice and hot in the middle. This is what it looks like when it’s done. It’s really pretty, and a nice way to serve it would be to add a little sprinkle—I’ve got my little grasp here, which I love by the way, my little grater—of parmesan cheese. It’s really fabulous. It’s a great side dish. You can serve it with something like chicken or beef in particular would be really good. Again, it gets nice and hot in the middle and nice and crisp on the outside.
So, polenta is very, very easy. It’s simply cornmeal and liquid. Again, you’ll want to add a little something with fat in it to make it creamy and tasty. But, it’s very easy, and I hope you give it a try.
Ask the Expert
How to Cook With Polenta
Question: What is polenta? How do you cook it?
Answer from: Maggie Gilbert, cooking expert
Polenta, or ground corn meal, can be cooked and served in a number of ways. It makes a great side dish for chicken or beef.
The content of these videos is for information only and is not intended to be medical advice. Refer to your health plan benefit guide for coverage details, and consult with your doctor to determine what is best for you.
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