DH and I love Italian food. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I'm not talking about spaghetti and meatballs or pizza, although we do love those too. I'm talking REAL Italian food. Osso Bucco. Risotto.
One small problem. Neither DH and I are Italian. We have no nonni to learn the fine arts of Italian cooking from. Now I know that several of you are either FBIs or IBMs* and are thinking I'm sort of prejudicial to fact that the Italian grandmother is only known for cooking. Maybe some of your grandmothers suck at cooking. But you know what I mean. :-)
DH and I have Lidia Bastianich to help us. Two cookbooks and a lot of desire to learn are what we have. You can check out Lidia's website here: http://www.lidiasitaly.com/index2.htm
We've had this brick of polenta sitting in our pantry closet for, oh, 6 months now? Today I decided to cook it, thinking it would be a great accompaniment to the grilled pork chops, broiled asparagus and a thrown together ratatouille of sorts that I had planned for dinner.
The instructions on the package were clear--boil about 2 liters of water with salt, add polenta, stir til thickness achieved, then pour. I had consulted Lidia regarding how she cooks polenta a few times before actually biting the bullet and opening up the package. I planned to pour it onto some rimmed cookie sheets, letting it cool, then cutting them into cakes. Later I would fry lightly in some olive oil.
So, the water boils up nicely, I pour in the polenta. WOW! That stuff cooked FAST and was a porridge-type consistency in no time. It was so thick, it was actually bubbling and making funny noises. It was popping OUT of my stock pot! Splashing on me, on the walls; it had a mind of its own. Finally I got it off the burner (duh self!) and let it sit while I got the cookie sheets ready.
I poured it onto one sheet and quickly realized I was going to need another sheet. Grabbing the mate to my first sheet, I had a second one prepared in no time. I'm blogging while I let them sit and will pop them in fridge soon to chill.
Grazie Nonni!
*FBI = full blooded Italian
IBM = Italian by marriage
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2 comments:
Yeah, that polenta stuff makes a lot. I'm really not a fan though. Love the pasta, cheese, meatballs, sausage and all the fried fish that generally is not too healthy ;). I've gained about 10 lbs. that won't leave since Xmas time. I know it's from eating this kind of food so often.
Mmmm...polenta.
Andre is an awesome Italian cook. Of course he doesn't use recipes or measure anything. I am jealous!
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