When we think about Italy, in most cases we remember juicy pizza with tomato sauce, delicious pasta flavored with Parmesan... then delicious Italian desserts alternate in our heads... And it’s unlikely that many of us break into a satisfied smile at the thought of Italian polenta. But in vain... After all this is an amazing dish, which deserves attention no less than pizza, pasta and even Tiramisu.

Polenta, like most Italian dishes, was popular mainly among poor working people. They prepared “porridge” from simple grains (usually millet, later from barley), mixing it with water. During the Roman Empire, polenta occupied a leading place in the diet of Roman soldiers. The soldiers cooked it on hot stones, ate it in the form of “porridge” or, almost like we do today, in the form of “pies”.

Even during the period of active distribution of bread in Ancient Rome, legionnaires, and even ordinary poor people, preferred the simple, but tasty and well-known polenta. For several centuries, peasants ate their usual polenta, until the Saracens discovered buckwheat for them. To this day, polenta is made from buckwheat in Tuscany. Around the 15th-16th centuries, with the advent of corn in Italy, this cereal began to be used as a basis for preparing polenta. Perhaps this cereal was inferior in its nutritional properties to its predecessors, but it gained enormous popularity, especially in the northern part of Italy.

In our time polenta is an exquisite dish, a delicacy for gourmets. There are hundreds of recipes for its preparation. Famous chefs flavor polenta with delicious sauces and serve it with legumes, meat and vegetables. If you are not yet familiar with this Italian dish, I suggest you take a closer look. This is a great alternative to pasta, risotto and pizza!

This time I decided to cook “hard” polenta with mushrooms with a gentle gorgonzola sauce. I honestly admit that this option seems to me one of the most exquisite, but the taste... The taste cannot be described in words - it’s worth trying! In addition, the dish is beautiful and looks very elegant - I think you can prepare it for some kind of celebration.

To prepare polenta:

500 g corn flour for polenta;
- 2 l. water;
- salt;
- 2 tbsp. olive oil for frying.

How to do:

1. Boil water and add salt (at the rate of 10 g of salt per liter of water).
2. Pour water over the flour and bring to a boil, stirring continuously with a whisk to prevent lumps from forming.
3. After boiling, cook for about 30 minutes over low heat, stirring the polenta with a wooden spoon. The finished polenta should come away from the edges of the pan.

Polenta is a very interesting dish. You can make it thinner (about the same as mashed potatoes) by adding 2.5 liters. water or, on the contrary, thicker, reducing the amount of water. I chose to make a roll out of it. To do this, I laid the finished polenta on cooking paper and formed a “log” out of it, cooled it and cut it into pieces about 1 cm thick. Then I fried each circle in olive oil on both sides.

Again, polenta sauces can be completely different. This time I cooked mushroom sauce with gorgonzola.

For the sauce (4-6 servings):

100 g dried shiitake;
- 400 g fresh champignons;
- 1 onion;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 1 tbsp. butter + 1 tbsp. olive oil for frying;
- 250 g. sour cream;
- 150 ml. milk;
- 100 g. Gorgonzola;
- salt, pepper to taste;
- a handful of walnuts.

How to do:

1. Soak the shiitake in advance.
2. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Fry in a mixture of oils until golden brown.
3. Drain the water from the shiitake, fry along with the champignons cut into plates.
4. Boil milk in a small saucepan and add cheese. When the cheese is completely melted, add sour cream. Salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and pour the prepared sauce over the mushrooms. Mix.
5. Serve the polenta with a generous amount of sauce and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

PS. I wish you a delicious meal and the most bon appetit!

Fried Polenta With Mushrooms & Gorgonzola Sauce

For the Polenta

500 g of Polenta Flour;
- 2 lt. of water;
- 20 g of salt;
- 2 tbsp olive oil.

Directions:

1. In a heavy saucepan bring water and salt to a boil and gradually whiskey in Polenta Flour.
2. After it boils, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until very thick, about 30 minutes.
3. Place the polenta on parchment paper and roll it to wrap the polenta into a log, refrigerate overnight. The next day, cut into individually sized circles or squares and pan fry in extra virgin olive oil until golden brown on each side.

For the Sauce:

100 g dried Shiitake;
- 400 g champignons;
- 1 onion, diced;
- 2 cloves garlic, minced;
- 1 tablespoon butter + 1 tablespoon oil;
- 250 g sour cream;
- 150 g milk;
- 100 g Gorgonzola;
- salt & pepper;
- handful of chopped walnuts.

1. Soak Shiitake in cold water.
2. Put the diced onion and the minced garlic into a saucepan with butter and oil and fry until golden brown.
3. Remove your Shiitake and wring out any excess water. Slice thinly the champignons and fry the mushrooms until golden brown.
4. Boil the milk in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add cheese. Whisk together until combined and smooth. Add the sour cream, salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil. Mix the sauce with the mushrooms and pour over the polenta. Sprinkle with walnuts.

suitable for vegans

Recently I got the idea to make polenta. And not liquid “corn porridge,” but the kind that can be cut into cubes and fried in olive oil.

I, a known fan of simple dishes, fell in love with the cornmeal polenta recipe at first sight. Judge for yourself: four ingredients, four standard steps and you're done. A dream, definitely a dream.

But during the preparation process a couple of surprises awaited me. Who else would like some surprise polenta? Come on!

For cornmeal polenta we will need:

• 400 grams of corn flour;
• 1.2 liters of water;
• 20 ml. olive oil;
• salt to taste.

At first everything is indecently simple. Take a saucepan with a thick bottom, pour water into it, add salt and bring the water to a boil.

The next step, the recipe advised, pour the cornmeal into the water in a thin stream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.

I couldn’t get a thin stream, the flour began to instantly brew and thicken, so I decided to use the achievement of civilization called a blender. Moreover, my blender has mixed pea flour more than once; this is not new to it.

I quote the recipe: “Cook the porridge over low heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring to avoid lumps.”

My “porridge” was such a thick mass that I would gladly call Superman to “stir” it, if there was at least one nearby. And so I had to train my own biceps and triceps, because I was afraid that the polenta would burn, and I interfered every minute.

As soon as half an hour has passed, remove the pan from the heat, preheat the oven to 180°C, grease the pan with olive oil and place the polenta in it. It’s not easy to do this with a thick lump of “porridge,” but we try to fill the mold tightly.

Subsequently, it turned out that it is better to take a mold that is wide, but not deep, in order to get good, not too thick pieces in the future (unfortunately, I didn’t get the shape right). Bake the polenta in the oven for about 15 minutes. And then let it cool.

Cut the cooled polenta into rectangles or triangles and fry on all sides in a frying pan. If you have a grill pan, then use it.

Hurray, comrades! We've conquered cornmeal polenta! How we managed to survive this battle, I have no idea :)))

I hasten to warn everyone right away that it tastes “no good”, in the sense that it has practically no taste of its own. Well, Grenouille didn’t have his own scent. But together with (you can just use sour cream and garlic) as a side dish for vegetable stew, it’s a gorgeous thing. We ate it on both cheeks. Bon appetit!

P.S. If among the readers there is a person who knows how to cook polenta faster and easier, I will be happy to learn from him.

Thanks to my shameful love for various fast food snacks straight from the deep fryer, I often remind myself of a caricature of a resident of the southern United States, ready to dip everything that comes to hand into boiling oil (what are the favorites of many, who came from those parts). The results of such deep-frying endeavors for me usually do not end in anything good; perhaps the same would have happened this time if I had not come across a pack of corn flakes, which changes the attitude towards breading in the most perverse way.

I'm willing to bet that you can literally sprinkle cornbread on anything and it will be delicious, but polenta fell victim to my experiments, especially since it has been waiting for its finest hour on the blog for a long time.

In general, cook polenta not for any special reason recipe, but as required by the instructions on the packaging for it. The porridge quickly thickens and begins to stick to the bottom, so here, as with, you will have to stand for a long time and tediously stirring endlessly. To the already prepared porridge I added a good piece of butter, a handful of grated cheese, dried thyme and tomatoes.

Hot corn polenta Pour into a parchment-lined baking sheet and smooth out. Leave to cool for an hour at room temperature, and then another hour in the refrigerator. In general, the polenta layer could have been made thinner, and I’ll probably do that next time.

When polenta with cheese Once it has hardened, carefully turn it over onto a board, peel off the layer of parchment and cut into cubes.

Crumble the cornflakes. Dredge the polenta in flour, then dip in the egg and sprinkle with cereal. Repeat. It's simple.

Now fry the polenta sticks in plenty of hot oil until golden brown on both sides. There is nothing to fry inside, since the cereal is already ready, and therefore our main goal is to achieve a crispy crust on the outside.

These polenta sticks can be served with any sauce. I, according to the classics, chose tomato (stewed tomatoes in their own juice with garlic, thyme, sugar and salt).

The toasted corn flake crumbs are crunchier than the famous panko coating, and beneath the thick layer of crumbs lies soft, well-seasoned polenta. How can you not love deep frying after this?

Ingredients:

• polenta - 200 g;
• cheese - 40 g;
• butter - 25 g;
• dried tomatoes - 1 teaspoon;
• dried thyme - 1 teaspoon;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• water - 20 ml;
• corn flakes - 1 1/2 tbsp.;
• flour - 2/3 tbsp.;
• vegetable oil for frying;
• tomato sauce for serving.

Preparation

1. Boil the polenta according to the instructions on the package. Salt the finished porridge, add butter, grated cheese, dried tomatoes and thyme.
2. Spread the polenta in a parchment-lined tin (20 x 20 cm) and let cool completely.
3. Cut the frozen porridge into cubes of equal size, roll each in flour, dip in an egg beaten with water and sprinkle with crumbs.
4. Fry polenta sticks in hot oil until golden brown and serve with tomato sauce.

Preparation

1. Cook polenta according to the package directions. Add salt, butter, cheese, dried tomatoes and thyme.
2. Spread cooked polenta over covered with parchment paper baking pan (20×20 cm) and let it cool completely.
3. Cut polenta on a medium sized blocks, roll every block in flour, dip in egg-water mixture and then cover with crumbled cornflakes.
4. Fry polenta sticks in hot oil till golden and crispy, then serve with tomato sauce.

Italian polenta with cheese is a very tasty and healthy side dish, which is a really important component of most main courses. For Russians, mashed potatoes or buckwheat porridge seem most familiar. But in other countries, other dishes serve as side dishes. In Italy it is most often rice or pasta. But there are also other types of this part of the food. For example, polenta is a kind of corn porridge. It is made from cornmeal or grits. It can act as a side dish, then the simplest version is prepared. Or it can be an independent dish. Then they try to decorate it with a variety of vegetables or meat. In our recipe, polenta will be supplemented with vegetables and liver.

Another distinctive feature of the recipe is that we will fry the polenta. Fried polenta is deep-fried in small pieces. Let's diversify and add a little Italian to it with the help of Parmesan. This cheese is primarily associated with everything Italian. Vegetables are sometimes added to the porridge itself, but we will decorate the plate with it. We will prepare the liver separately, and then simply place it on top. Thus, this recipe is a rather dense and tasty dish. Let's find out what we need for it.

Ingredients for cooking

For the polenta:

• corn grits - 250 grams;
• clean water - 1 liter;
• parmesan - to taste;
• olive oil;
• rosemary;
• salt;
• pepper.

For filling:

• liver (preferably beef) - 400 grams;
• cauliflower or broccoli - 300 grams;
• hot pepper - 1 piece;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• tomato paste - 2 tablespoons;
• frying oil;
• salt;
• pepper.

Based on the list of ingredients, you can understand that we are preparing polenta with vegetables and liver. In general, you can use any liver, but many people don’t like chicken liver. And beef goes better with special spiciness. There should be no difficulties in preparing this recipe, because there is nothing extremely new or unusual here. The only feature is the step-by-step cooking process. First you need to prepare the main part of the polenta, and then leave it to harden and cool for a day.

First stage

First we will cook standard porridge. It, like any other, must be gradually poured into the boiling water. Stir over low heat until the porridge begins to harden. This may take different times, depending on the cereal and its manufacturer. You will spend a maximum of half an hour on this.

Now let's add a little twist - parmesan. It needs to be grated and then mixed with the already prepared polenta along with spices. It is best to transfer it to a greased container and put it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Second stage

Now let's fry the polenta. It needs to be cut into pieces. For the beauty of future serving, you can make some kind of flat cakes, on which you place the liver on top. Or you can not worry too much and just make cubes. Sprinkle them with a little flour if you like.

If you have a deep fryer, then pour oil into it. If it is not there, then find a container that is small in diameter and deep and pour it into it. The oil in the recipe is olive, but not everyone has enough money to use it for deep-frying. Therefore, you can replace it with a good vegetable one. Place fresh rosemary in the oil for half a minute and immediately remove. After all this, we begin to fry the cubes until sufficiently golden. Place the finished pieces on paper towels to drain the fat. Fried polenta is ready.

Third stage

At this stage we will prepare the filling. Let's start with the liver. It will need to be lightly marinated. Therefore, we wash it well and cut it into pieces the same size or slightly smaller than polenta cubes. We put them in a bowl. The marinade is garlic and salt and pepper. Mix everything and put it aside.

In order not to waste time, let's cook the cabbage. Choose your favorite type or take both in equal quantities. Separate them into inflorescences and leave them in brackish water for 15 minutes. At this time, boil some water in a saucepan thoroughly. Pour the cabbage into it. As soon as the water begins to bubble again, we drain it and fill the inflorescences with ice water. This will help pause the cooking so they don't turn to mush and help maintain their vibrant color.

Now it's the liver's turn. We simply fry it in a saucepan until cooked. It's about 10 minutes. Here you can add a golden crust for beauty and taste. At the end, add a little tomato paste, mix everything and leave for about five minutes under the lid. And that's all, the filling is ready.

Fourth stage

Here we just have to assemble the dish. Place polenta with cheese in the middle of the plate. The liver goes on top of it. Along the edges of the cabbage inflorescences. That's all.

Here was a simple recipe for another unusual and tasty dish. If you don't like liver, then just polenta with vegetables will do for you. Don't like cabbage? No problem! Take other vegetables, absolutely any. Fried polenta is simply delicious on its own. But Parmesan cheese makes its contribution. You see, this dish is universal, it will withstand any experimentation. Don't believe me? Try to do it yourself and you will succeed. Good luck and bon appetit!

These are almost corn chips, only thicker, soft on the inside, and browned and crispy on the outside. These trinkets can be made ahead of time for a picnic or snack for work, served with a cold beer, or just crunched on with this delicious Lenten snack. I love everything made from corn, and even porridge, so this polenta is generally a sweet treat for me, but it will also appeal to those who don’t like porridge, it’s been tested. I tried these corn squares in two versions - with and with spices, sprinkled with ground paprika, chili and smoked sea salt - gorgeous! I liked the first option, it’s softer, but the second one is fire!
For the community corn round gotovim_vmeste2 .

For the polenta:
1/2 cup corn grits or flour;
1.5 cups of water;
salt;
vegetable oil for frying.
1 tsp a mixture of paprika, chili and sea salt or other spices.

Boil the cereal or flour, stirring so as not to burn. It is very convenient to cook in a slow cooker or pressure cooker. Place on a baking sheet, greased with oil, covered with parchment and greased again. Flatten it into an even layer, cover it with cling film so that the film touches the surface of the polenta, and let it dry completely.
Turn the polenta over onto a cutting board, remove the parchment, cut into diamond squares and fry in a well-heated frying pan. The polenta may stick at first, but once the crust forms it will be easy to flip and remove.
Place the fried squares on a paper towel to absorb excess fat and sprinkle with spices and salt. Ready!