What Is Polenta?
Polenta is a porridge type dish popular in Northern Italy. In Italy it is often made with various ingredients, including cornmeal, ground rice, buckwheat, and chestnut flour. Here in North America, it is generally made exclusively with coarsely ground cornmeal. Think of polenta as an Italian version of grits! But made with yellow corn instead of the white corn of grits. You can make and serve polenta warm and porridge-like, or you can let it set and slice it to grill or fry.
How to Make Creamy Polenta
For this recipe, we are making a particularly creamy polenta, through the addition of butter and cream cheese. To make it, we first whisk polenta (coarse cornmeal) into boiling salted water. Then we lower the heat, stir in a little butter and cook the polenta for about 25 minutes. When the polenta is cooked through, soft and tender, we stir in some cream cheese to serve. Easy, right? This polenta is so light, so fluffy, and creamy, it could almost be a dessert.
Change It Up!
This recipe is meant to be a guideline, feel free to experiment with it.
Swap some water for stock — We are using all water as the liquid in this recipe, you can easily swap out some of the water with chicken stock or broth.Change the cheese — Cream cheese gives this polenta its creamy taste. That said, you could also use goat cheese, Parmesan, ricotta, mascarpone, or Mozzarella. All will result in a beautiful, delicious polenta.Herb it up — Stir in a little dried or freshly chopped green herbs like parsley, chives, sage, thyme, or oregano.Chill it and grill it — Make the polenta ahead, pour it into a loaf pan to set and chill it. Once set, you can slice it and grill the slices or toast them on the stovetop.
What Kind of Cornmeal Should I Use for Polenta?
Look for a coarse grained yellow cornmeal; this will give you the right polenta texture. Fine grain cornmeal tends to cook up to mush. There are many brands that sell cornmeal specifically for polenta and say so on the package. Those are a good bet.
How to Make Ahead and Reheat
If preparing polenta in advance, cool, cover, and refrigerate it. Reheat the polenta on the stovetop or in the microwave (about 5 minutes on high), stirring in more liquid if necessary to loosen it. Stir vigorously after reheating to fluff. Serve immediately.
Here Are More Ways to Try Polenta:
Creamy Polenta With White Beans and Roasted Broccoli Cheesy Polenta With Grilled Sausages and Summer Vegetables Polenta Casserole With Fontina and Tomato Sauce Polenta Sausage Mozzarella Casserole
