How to make polenta from corn grits. Polenta: what is it, how to properly prepare a traditional dish of Italian cuisine How to prepare polenta

The national Italian dish is corn polenta! Very tasty and satisfying - with cheese, raisins, vegetables.

Polenta, a dish made from crushed corn kernels, first appeared in Italy back in the 16th century. After this golden cereal was brought from America to Europe by Columbus. Initially, this dish was prepared only by the poor. However, over time, it became widespread and won the love of Italian gourmets, turning from ordinary peasant food into a gourmet dish. Polenta is a universal food. The thing is that Italians use it not only as a side dish for meat and fish dishes, but also as a dessert, snack, and even instead of bread. It all depends on the recipe. And there are incredibly many of them. You can make polenta soft and sweet, or you can make it hard and serve it cut into pieces. In addition, it can be supplemented with vegetables, cheese, mushrooms, meat or seafood and get a completely independent and very satisfying dish. For children, it is best to offer polenta with sweet fruit. In general, any gourmet will find a recipe to suit his taste. If you master the classic recipe for making polenta, then all its other variations will not seem difficult to you.

• 1 cup polenta (very fine corn grits).
• 3 glasses of water.
• Salt to taste.
• Butter.

To prepare this dish, very small corn grits are used - almost flour. It's called "polenta". And to be more precise, it’s not even cereal, but coarse corn flour. By the way, the taste of the dish depends very much on its quality. You can never make real polenta from cheap low-grade flour - smooth and velvety, with a delicate, creamy taste. But that's not all. Before making cornmeal polenta, you will need to find a deep copper pot or a thick-walled pot. In the old days, every Italian family had a special cauldron for this purpose, which hung over the hearth and a long wooden spoon to it. It was in it that Italian housewives cooked their traditional dish. But, given that it is rather problematic to get such a boiler in our time, you can also use an ordinary Teflon heat-resistant saucepan. So, you will need to measure exactly 3 cups of water. That is, the ratio of water to cereal should be exactly 3 to 1. No more, no less. When the water boils, salt it to taste, reduce the heat to low so that the water barely gurgles and add flour in a very thin stream, stirring continuously.

Now be patient because for the next 30-40 minutes your task will be to continuously stir the corn porridge. Patiently, carefully and without rushing anywhere. When the porridge begins to slightly lag behind the walls of the pan, and this will happen no earlier than half an hour later, you can turn off the heat.

Spoon the finished porridge onto a shallow baking sheet or other suitable container about a centimeter thick.

Flatten it with a spoon. Place the parchment on top and carefully level the entire mass with your hands again. Let it cool for about half an hour. Then remove the parchment.

Cut the frozen mass into pieces. You can also squeeze out circles with a glass - whatever you like.

Heat a frying pan with butter and fry the polenta pieces in it.

Transfer them to a plate and sprinkle with pepper if desired. You can eat it both cold and hot.

Recipe 2: Corn Polenta (step by step)

Polenta, or actually corn porridge with various additives, is a dish of Italian cuisine. Variations on the polenta theme exist in different regions of Italy. Since the taste of corn grits is rather neutral, and the color is not very expressive, in order to prepare an appetizing polenta, something spicy and bright is added to the corn porridge, for example, hot and sweet peppers of different colors, garlic, and various herbs.

• water – 800 ml
• corn grits – 150 g
• soft cheese – 100 g
• hard parmesan cheese – 30 g
• hot chili pepper – 1 pc.
• garlic – 2 cloves
• olive oil - 2 tbsp. l.

Prepare all ingredients for polenta. Chop the garlic. Garlic cubes should be approximately 2mm on a side. Finely chop the pepper (1 piece or ½) into squares with a side of 5 mm. If you are not a fan of spicy food, first remove the seeds from the pepper, or you can limit yourself to just half of the hot pepper. Grate both cheeses (soft and hard) on a fine grater.

Fry garlic and hot pepper in olive oil.

One minute will be enough, the main thing is that the garlic and pepper retain their juiciness and do not dry out or overcook. Strain the garlic and pepper through a strainer and drain off the excess oil.

Boil water (800 ml) in a saucepan, salt it and add corn grits (150 g) in a thin stream, stirring continuously. If you add all the cereal at once, it will instantly brew, and you will get a shapeless piece of porridge instead of polenta. Remember, semolina porridge is cooked using the same principle. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring corn grits continuously for five minutes. Its readiness can be defined as follows. If, when stirring, a trace of a spoon remains at the bottom of the pan with corn grits, then the porridge can be removed from the heat.

Add fried peppers and garlic to the prepared corn porridge.

Add soft cheese and Parmesan.

Stir.

Line a mold (preferably square) with baking paper and pour in the corn mixture.

Level the surface.

Place the polenta in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool the finished polenta completely, only then cut into cubes 2 cm wide and 6 cm long.

Serve Italian polenta with any sauce. It even goes well with ketchup, and real fire eaters will love polenta with spicy Tabasco sauce.

Recipe 3, simple: cornmeal polenta

• Finely ground corn flour - 100 grams
• Water - 300 grams
• Salt - 20 grams

The ingredients for polenta are very modest, it’s hard to believe that you can prepare a gourmet dish from this set.

It is ideal to cook classic polenta in a copper bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon, but in our modern apartments copper cookware is rare, so you can replace it with a pan with thick walls and a bottom or a cauldron. Pour the required amount of water into a thick-walled pan, add salt and bring the water to a boil.

The most important secret to perfect polenta is the correct proportion of ingredients, one part flour and three parts water. Add flour into boiling water in small parts and mix thoroughly with a spoon so that no lumps form, the porridge should have a uniform consistency.

With constant stirring, cook the corn porridge for about 50 minutes; this long and labor-intensive process cannot be interrupted, this is how the porridge will turn out to be the correct consistency and will not burn. As soon as the porridge begins to pull away from the walls and a crust appears, it is ready, let's proceed to the next stage of cooking.

Line a baking dish with parchment paper.

Place the cooked corn porridge into the mold, cool, and then put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After the allotted time, remove the finished polenta from the refrigerator, remove the parchment paper, and place it on a cutting board.

Carefully divide the polenta into portions according to your taste, trim off any bumps and edges.

Place the chopped pieces in a baking dish, first grease the bottom of the dish with sunflower oil. Place in an oven preheated to 120 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Let's let the polenta cool, now our dish is ready, you can put it on serving plates, because in the homeland of polenta it is even used instead of bread, or you can prepare delicious dishes from polenta.

Polenta can be served with vegetables. You can also serve polenta with meat dishes; in Venice you will definitely be served it with fish dishes.

For breakfast, polenta can be prepared in the form of tartlets with cucumber and boiled egg; you can’t imagine a better breakfast.

Polenta is delicious in combination with any ingredients, it is very versatile; cooled and dried polenta, for example, can be cut into pieces, sprinkled with grated Parmesan and baked in the oven. Grilled polenta or sweet polenta is also delicious; it is usually eaten dipped in coffee with milk.

Recipe 4: Italian polenta porridge

Corn porridge polenta is one of the oldest and most beloved dishes of Italians. In northern Italy, it is customary to prepare it with the addition of leftovers from different types of cheese, as well as with different meat fillings.

From our step-by-step recipe with photos you will learn how to make polenta from corn flour at home. This porridge also turns out well from cereals, but flour polenta is more tender. The resulting dish is very difficult to compare with ordinary porridge. The cheese in its composition gives Italian polenta a unique taste that cannot be forgotten.

Our photo recipe will help you easily prepare corn polenta to please your loved ones with an old Italian dish.

• corn flour - 380 gr
• water - 1 l
• milk - 250 ml
• butter - 160 gr
• hard cheese - 250 gr
• garlic - 1 clove
• white bread - 1 slice
• sage - 4 leaves
• thyme - 1 sprig
• table salt - to taste

Prepare the water: mix it with milk and bring to a boil, add salt and throw in the bread.

Slowly and carefully fold in the cornmeal. Reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes. The main thing is not to forget constantly, stir so that lumps do not form.

Now let's get to the cheeses: they need to be grated or crumbled ( it depends on the type of cheeses you choose for the dish).

After the polenta has cooked for a long time, add the cheeses to it, stirring continuously until they are completely dissolved.

Heat the frying pan, melt the butter in it, add the garlic, which must first be crushed well, and sage leaves.

After a few minutes, remove the garlic and sage and pour the resulting mixture into the porridge. Mix well, decorate with a sprig of thyme - and corn polenta according to an old Italian recipe is ready. It can be used as an independent dish with some sauce or as a side dish for meat.

Recipe 5: Polenta Porridge with Bell Peppers

Polenta is the national dish of Italians, an analogue of hominy in Moldavian cuisine.

• Vegetable oil
• Flour 2 tbsp.
• Butter 30 g.
• Onion 100 g.
• Salt 0.5 tsp.
• Herbs 0.5 tsp.
• Tomatoes 100 g.
• Water 700 ml.
• Sour cream 2 tbsp.
• Bell pepper 100 g.
• Corn grits 250 g.

To prepare polenta, you will need finely ground corn grits or flour, salt and aromatic herbs (they are optional, you can add them at your discretion), onions, vegetable oil, wheat flour, butter, tomatoes, sweet peppers and sour cream.

Mix the cereal with dried herbs. If you don't want to use them, you can skip this step.

Bring the water to a boil. Pour the cereal into it. You need to pour in a thin stream, stirring the water continuously. It is wrong to pour out all the cereal at once. It will clump into clumps. They can be broken, but to do this you will have to stir the porridge vigorously. It’s easier to add the cereal in portions.

Soon the porridge will begin to thicken. At this stage, add salt, butter and mix.

Continue cooking until the porridge thickens. Stir it occasionally to distribute heat and liquid evenly. If the porridge has thickened, but the grains are not yet soft enough, add a little water and continue cooking. The finished polenta should be so thick that a spoon inserted into it will not fall off.

Grease a deep plate or other suitable dish with vegetable oil. Place polenta in it. Smooth the surface with a spoon soaked in cold water. Leave the porridge to cool for 1-2 hours. During this time, the polenta will become dense and suitable for slicing.

Turn the cooled polenta over and place on a wooden board. As the porridge cools, it will shrink slightly in volume and will be easy to remove. Cut the polenta with strong thread or a wet knife. Do not use a regular knife. The boiled corn will stick to it, and you will only ruin the even, beautiful pieces. Do not cut hot polenta. It will fall apart into separate pieces.

Bread the polenta pieces in flour and place in a frying pan with heated vegetable oil. You don't need a lot of flour. It is enough for it to cover the pieces with a thin layer on both sides. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Do not turn the pieces until a golden brown crust appears at the bottom. It not only improves the taste and appearance of the dish, but also makes the pieces stronger and prevents them from falling apart. In general, polenta is completely ready to eat and unfried. But I decided to cook just this version of the dish. In Italy, by the way, it is called polenta fritta.

Prepare vegetable sauce for fried polenta. Cut all vegetables into small cubes.

Fry the onion and sweet pepper in vegetable oil until softened. Add tomatoes to them and fry until they soften.

Add sour cream, salt, pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes under the lid. Drizzle this sauce over the polenta when serving. If you want, you can puree the sauce in a blender and then bring it to a boil, then it will have a more uniform texture. Let the hot polenta with sauce sit in a bowl for a few minutes before serving so that the porridge is well saturated with the aroma of the sauce.

Recipe 6: Polenta with Cheese (Step by Step Photos)

Polenta is a dish made from cornmeal that can be served as a side dish. By adding cheese to polenta, you will get an independent dish and surprise all your loved ones with a new dish.

• Milk – 250 ml
• Corn flour - 70 g
• Butter – 25 g
• Cheese or feta cheese - 200 g
• Salt - to taste
• Ground black pepper - to taste
• Fresh parsley - 2 g

How to cook polenta with cheese: pour milk into a double-bottomed saucepan or cauldron and put on fire.

After boiling, add butter and, if desired, salt.

Pre-dry the corn flour in the oven and sift it (it is best to use finely ground flour). Stirring constantly, gradually add cornmeal (the quality of your polenta depends on the quality of the flour). Stir the porridge thoroughly for 5 minutes over low heat.

Add another 40-50 g of milk and stir for another 4 minutes.

The polenta should be thick.

After the porridge has become a homogeneous consistency, place it in a mold or glass, previously greased with butter. Tamp the porridge well with a spoon, after moistening it with water.

Place the polenta in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes until completely cooled.

Then remove from the mold.

Cut the polenta with a slightly damp knife.

Place on a plate, sprinkle with black pepper and chopped herbs.

Place sheep cheese or cheese on top and place the polenta with cheese in the oven (temperature 180 degrees) for 7-10 minutes.

Polenta with cheese is ready!

Recipe 7, step by step: polenta with mushrooms

An Italian dish called polenta is becoming increasingly popular in our area. Along with pasta and pizza, it is prepared at Italian-style parties and served in themed restaurants. Making polenta at home is very easy if you know how to cook... semolina porridge. Yes, yes, this particular dish is most reminiscent of an Italian delicacy in consistency and method of preparation. Well, by adding greens and mushrooms to it, you will get an excellent holiday dish that may well become the “star” of the entire table.

• Polenta – 250 g
• Champignons – 300 g
• Onions – 1 pc.
• Hard cheese – 200 g
• Green garlic – 3-5 stalks
• Parsnip leaves - half a bunch
• Salt - to taste
• Vegetable oil for frying

The technology for preparing this dish is designed in such a way that you first need to make the mushroom “additive”, and only after that – the polenta itself. So we peel the onion, cut it into half rings, rings or cubes (depending on how you like it). Place in a preheated frying pan coated with vegetable oil and fry on all sides.

While the onions are frying, quickly clean the mushrooms, chop them smaller and place them in the pan. Please note that the fire must be quite large: otherwise the mushrooms will immediately release water and begin to “cook”. Salt the mushrooms with onions, stir them from time to time.

Now let's cook the polenta! To begin with, a small educational program: polenta is often called corn grits and it is recommended to cook it for 30-40 minutes. This is incorrect: in fact, polenta is called very fine cornmeal, which cooks almost instantly. Well, the classic corn porridge (mamalyga) made from the corresponding grains really should be cooked longer. In order to cook polenta, put a pan of water on the fire (there should be 3 times more water than polenta). If the water has already boiled, slowly pour polenta into it, stirring all the time. At the same time, we make the fire very small. Then everything is the same as in preparing semolina porridge: constantly stir the porridge and make sure that there are no lumps. Don't forget to add a little salt. After 3-5 minutes, the polenta can be considered ready.

Chop the green garlic. You can add green onions to the polenta instead.

Now you need to prepare the cheese - grate it on a fine grater.

We treat a baking dish with vegetable oil and place polenta in it.

Place a layer of mushrooms and onions on top of the polenta.

Well, the final layer is cheese. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place our form in it. Keep there for up to 10 minutes until the cheese is completely melted.

Polenta with mushrooms and herbs is ready! This paste tastes like dumplings. Nevertheless, the dish is considered very noble and claims to be the favorite delicacy of gourmets.

Try cooking polenta with mushrooms and see for yourself the excellent taste of the dish!

Recipe 8: polenta with tomatoes and meat

The traditional set of products for Italian cuisine is fresh vegetables and meat, and instead of bread it is suggested to prepare polenta. Polenta is a cool porridge made from finely ground corn grits, which completely replaces bread and can be served with any dish - fried fish, chicken, meat, stewed vegetables. Polenta is baked and fried in oil, boiled in milk or water, vegetable broth, made dense, almost like bread, or more tender, reminiscent of thick porridge. In any form and in any combination, polenta is very tasty and healthy, and even if you get carried away and allow yourself a large portion of polenta, there will be no harm to your figure.

An appetizer of polenta with tomatoes and meat can be served in portions, making towers, or in a plate, supplemented with meat, vegetables and soft cheese.

• finely ground corn grits – 1 cup;
• water – 1 glass;
• milk – 2 glasses;
• lean meat (veal, beef, pork) – 300 g;
• lard with layers of meat – 200 g;
• salt - to taste;
• mozzarella or any soft cheese – 150 g;
• fresh tomatoes (large) – 4-5 pcs;
• any fresh herbs - for serving.

Cut the lard into small cubes or bars. We make the cuts not large, but not very small, taking into account the fact that the lard will need to be rendered down to cracklings.

We cut the meat a little larger than lard. It is advisable to slightly freeze the meat for polenta from corn grits and then cut it into neat cubes with sides of 2-2.5 cm.

Measure out the required amount of finely ground corn grits. In appearance, it is noticeably different from corn flour; the structure of the cereal is heterogeneous, grains are clearly visible.

Heat a dry frying pan well. Pour in the pieces of lard. We render the fat, make cracklings, but do not fry them too much. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cracklings and set the frying pan with fat aside for now.

Cook polenta. Pour the milk into boiling water (you need to cook the polenta in a cauldron).

Heat and bring the milk and water to almost a boil. Salt to taste.

Pour in 2-3 tbsp. spoons of rendered fat. Fat is needed to make polenta with tomatoes and meat tastier and more tender in taste.

Let the milk boil. Pour all the cereal in a heap until stirred.

The milk continues to simmer quietly, and the cereal gradually swells. When the milk rises and almost covers the cereal, take a masher and begin to mix the cereal with the milk, as if kneading it.

Gradually the cereal will absorb the milk, the mass will become viscous and lumpy. You need to mix the cereal well so that there are no dry areas left.

Cover the cauldron with polenta. Turn on low heat and steam the cereal for 20-25 minutes. It should become soft and tender, absorb all the liquid. Near the walls, the cereal will be baked and slightly fried. Turn the casserole with the finished polenta onto a plate so that the polenta ends up in a heap on the plate. Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Place the frying pan with the rendered fat on high heat. Quickly fry the meat until golden brown. The meat should be salted to taste. Mix the fried meat with cracklings and warm everything up.

Transfer the polenta to a cutting board and knead it into a 3 cm layer. Using a glass, cut out circles. Cut tomatoes into thick slices. Place a tomato slice on top of the polenta circle.

Place crumbled mozzarella or any soft cheese and fried meat with cracklings on top of the tomato. Decorate with herbs and serve the appetizer to the table. Bon appetit!

Recipe 9: Sweet polenta with raisins and dried apricots

• 1.5 tbsp. water (or milk)
• 150 g corn grits
• 2 tbsp. Sahara
• a pinch of salt
• handful of raisins
• a handful of dried apricots
• butter (or vegetable) oil for greasing the pan
• maple syrup or honey for serving

Bring milk to a boil, add cereal, sugar, salt, cook over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the porridge is cooking, rinse the raisins with hot water, pour boiling water over the dried apricots for 10 minutes, then cut into pieces equal in size to the raisins.

Grease a rectangular pan with butter.

When the porridge is ready, add raisins and dried apricots to it, mix, put in the pan, and level with a spatula.

Allow the polenta to cool, then cut into pieces and drizzle with maple syrup or honey when serving. Polenta can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Recipe 10: Polenta casserole with vegetables

I suggest you prepare a layered polenta casserole with vegetables. This meatless vegan dish is very easy to prepare. You can take any vegetables according to the season and to your taste. I really like polenta with vegetables; see the classic recipe with step-by-step photos below.

• 1 cup corn flour,
• approximately 2 liters of water,
• 1 carrot,
• half an onion
• half a sweet pepper
• several cauliflower florets,
• 2 zucchini,
• piece of eggplant
• 4 tbsp tomatoes in juice or diluted tomato paste,
• 1 tbsp. olive oil,
• salt and pepper to taste,
• 1 tsp paprika.

There are two types of corn flour for polenta: classic and instant. Boil the polenta until cooked as directed on the package. The flour is poured into boiling salted water and cooked, stirring, until thickened.

While the polenta is cooking, let's start with the vegetables. Cut onions and carrots into small cubes.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and fry onions and carrots in it.

When the onion becomes transparent, add finely chopped cauliflower and diced bell pepper. Cover the vegetables with a lid.

At this stage, add tomatoes in juice or tomato paste to the vegetables so that the vegetables are stewed in it and do not burn. Simmer the vegetables for five minutes.

For now, cut the zucchini and eggplant into small cubes.

After five minutes, place the zucchini and eggplant in the pan, season the vegetables with salt, pepper and sweet paprika. Stir, simmer the vegetables under the lid for another 5 minutes, that is, until half cooked.

Pour the finished polenta (half) into a rectangular pan lined with baking paper. The polenta should be hot, fresh from the heat. So it is still liquid and easy to work with.

Quickly spread the vegetable filling onto the polenta and smooth it out with a spoon.

Pour the second half of the hot polenta over the vegetables, completely covering the filling. Level the surface if necessary. You can drizzle olive oil over the layered vegetable casserole.

How to cook polenta? How to submit it? How to make a rich snack from “poor” porridge? We will consider all these culinary issues in this article.
Recipe contents:

Among the many Italian culinary treasures, many dishes are universal treasures: pizza, risotto, pasta, polenta. This is the most ringing “roll call” of Italian dishes. In this famous list, a special place is occupied by polenta, which has evolved from a poor man's porridge into a gourmet dish. In gourmet restaurants, the dish costs a considerable amount. However, this dish is both democratic and rich.

Cooking polenta: subtleties and secrets

• To make polenta soft, use 1 part corn flour to 3 parts water.
• Cook the dish over low heat for 40-50 minutes, stirring constantly.
• “Historical” technology involves the use of copper utensils for cooking polenta.
• The readiness of the porridge is determined when the mass lags behind the walls of the pan. Then it’s time to remove it from the stove.
• Cornmeal can be white or yellow. But yellow is used more often.
• It is advisable to give preference to coarse flour, then the dish will be more healthy. Fine grinding will result in a more tender porridge with a creamy texture.
• To serve polenta, pour it into a bowl moistened with cold water. Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then put on a plate.
• The remaining polenta is kept in the refrigerator under plastic wrap for up to 3 days.
• If the porridge is needed thick, for frying, then it is laid out on a greased baking sheet 1.2 cm thick and left until thickened or baked at 175 ° C until it warms up.
• Cut thick polenta into squares with a pizza cutter or an ordinary kitchen knife.
• Before slicing, it is kept in hot water for some time.
• To avoid lumps, flour is slowly poured into boiling water, stirring constantly. Another easy way to avoid the formation of lumps is to pour corn flour into cold water, whisk quickly, and then bring to a boil.
• If the polenta is burnt on the bottom, transfer it to another pan without scraping the burnt bottom and continue cooking. At the same time, it is stirred often.
• Remove the lumpy polenta from the stove, knead the lumps, beat vigorously with a mixer.
• Soft, warm polenta can replace bread during meals.

• Calorie content per 100 g - 87 kcal.
• Number of servings - 4
• Cooking time - 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Water - 3 l
• Corn grits - 1 tbsp.
• Salt - to taste

Step-by-step preparation:

1. Boil salted water in a saucepan.
2. Gradually add corn grits, stirring constantly.
3. Once it returns to a boil and bubbles form, reduce the heat.
4. Continue cooking the cereal for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. If necessary, add water or add porridge.
5. When the mass lags behind the walls of the pan, the dish is ready.
6. Transfer the mixture to a tray, shape into the desired shape and leave to cool.

Ingredients:

• Yellow corn flour - 0.5 tbsp.
• Drinking water - 1.5 tbsp.
• Salt - to taste

1. Boil water in a thick-bottomed saucepan to prevent the porridge from burning.
2. Gradually add cornmeal, stirring with a wooden spoon.
3. Add salt and stir.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil again, stirring constantly.
5. Reduce the heat to low and cook the food for 30 minutes, remembering to stir.
6. When the porridge begins to lag behind the walls, freely separate from the bottom and form a crust on the walls of the pan, it means it is ready. The consistency of the polenta should be smooth and creamy.
7. Place the Italian delicacy on a cutting board, shape into a rectangle and refrigerate.

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than cooking for yourself))

Content

Corn Italian porridge, which has gained fame around the world, is called polenta. Having received recognition in northern Italy, the dish became popular in Slovenia, Serbia, Moldova, etc. Polenta is universal: it is served with cheese, meat, berries, and fruits. Depending on the recipe, the dish can be served both for breakfast and for a family dinner as a main course or instead of dessert.

What is polenta

A dish of Italian cuisine, polenta is a porridge made from crushed corn grains, which is in demand not only in its native country. It is common in the northern regions of Italy: in Lombardy, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Italian cantons in Switzerland. In other countries, polenta has a different name: for Slovenia it is “zhgantsy”, for Dalmatia it is “pulenta”, for Serbia it is “kachamak”, for Moldova it is “mamalyga”.

Polenta Recipes

Initially, cereals were added to a deep large copper cauldron without dressing, served as food for the poor population of Italy. Later, improved recipes appeared with the addition of mushrooms (mushrooms, shiitake), cheese, meat (chicken fillet), vegetables (there is a recipe with tomatoes and celery) and seafood (shrimp). The versatility of polenta is that it can be served hot or cold, savory, sweet, creamy, hard or soft.

Classic recipe

• Time: 50 minutes.
• Number of servings: 6 persons.
• Calorie content: 105.9 kcal.
• Purpose: for breakfast, afternoon snack, for children.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Classic Italian cornmeal polenta is a thick porridge served without additional flavoring ingredients: no cheese, meat, seafood, etc. You can cook a dish for breakfast, afternoon tea or to please your family for no reason. The advantages of corn grits include versatility: you can serve it seasoned with salt or sugar, cold or hot, it all depends on your taste preferences.

Ingredients:

• water – 1 liter;
• coarse corn grits – 250 grams;
• salt – 1 teaspoon;
• butter – 50 grams.

Cooking method:

1. To prepare, you will need a thick-walled copper or cast iron pan, or a cauldron. If such a device is not in use, an ordinary saucepan with a thick bottom into which water is poured will do.
2. Add salt to the boiling water, add corn grits, stirring with a wooden spoon.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring the mixture constantly. The polenta will begin to pull away from the sides and bottom of the pan.
4. When the mixture turns into a homogeneous mass, place it on a cutting board, use a spatula to shape it into a square, and cool.
5. Once frozen, polenta can be cut into pieces and served with melted butter on top.

With cheese

• Time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content: 368.7 kcal.
• Purpose: side dish for lunch, dinner.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Corn polenta with cheeses is suitable for lunch and dinner as a main course or side dish. The dish can be served hot or cold. For richer flavor, use vegetable or meat broth instead of water. Cooking does not take much time. Housewives wait longer for the mixture to harden. You don’t have to spend time on this, but immediately divide the porridge into portions. This will not change the taste, but the aesthetic presentation will.

Ingredients:

• water – 0.5 liters;
• three types of cheese: cream (processed), blue, hard - 200, 100, 100 grams;
• greens (dill, parsley) - to taste;
• salt - to taste;
• butter – 50 grams;
• thyme – 0.5 teaspoon.

Cooking method:

1. Boil water or broth in a saucepan with thick walls and bottom, add salt and corn flour. Stir until thickened. If desired, five minutes before removing the cereal from the heat, you can add grated cheese.
2. Place the mixture in a baking dish greased with butter and smooth it over the surface. Wait until it cools completely, then cut the polenta into pieces.
3. While the porridge is cooling, mash the blue cheese with a fork, add herbs, thyme and cream cheese. Stir the mixture until smooth.
4. Place baking paper on a baking sheet, place polenta on it, and brush it with the cheese mixture. Cover each piece of cheese with another piece (second layer).
5. Grate hard cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 190 degrees until a crust appears.

With milk

• Time: 30 minutes.
• Number of servings: 7 persons.
• Calorie content: 152 kcal.
• Purpose: for breakfast.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: medium.

Polenta made from cornmeal and milk is soft, creamy and tender. Porridge will delight you with its pleasant taste for breakfast, especially if served with toppings or jam. The set of ingredients is similar to classic polenta with the addition of milk. How to serve corn porridge in an original way: cut out figures (circles, stars, hearts, etc.) from the hardened mixture and pour milk over them.

Ingredients:

• water – 0.75 liters;
• milk - to taste;
• salt - to taste;
• sugar - to taste;
• butter - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Pour water into a saucepan, bring it to a boil and add salt. Reduce heat to low and carefully add corn grits.
2. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring constantly. When the cereal becomes soft, add milk and continue cooking. Determine the thickness of the future dish yourself: if you like thick, coarse porridge, then wait for it to thicken completely; if not, remove it a little earlier.
3. When the cereal is ready, add sugar and a piece of butter, cover with a lid for 5 minutes.
4. Roll out the finished cereal on a flat surface, cut out figures from it with a knife or special molds. Next, you should wait until the decorations have cooled and hardened and pour milk over them.

With mushrooms

• Time: 50 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content: 545 kcal.
• Purpose: dinner, family lunch.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: medium.

You can delight your family with polenta with mushrooms at dinner or lunch for the whole family. For this, it is better to use portion molds or clay pots. For a bright taste, before serving, you can season the dish with chopped parsley, and put various sauces (garlic, tomato) on the table. Before putting mushrooms on top, you can fry the flatbread on the grill in the summer, and in a frying pan in the winter.

Ingredients:

• water – 0.75 liters;
• corn grits – 330 grams;
• dried mushrooms – 15 grams;
• Shiitake mushrooms – 225 grams;
• champignons – 225 grams;
• olive oil – 1 tablespoon;
• vegetable oil – 1 tablespoon;
• butter – 30 grams;
• onion head – 1 pc.;
• marjoram - to taste;
• fresh finely chopped oregano - 1 teaspoon.

Cooking method:

1. Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms and leave them to steep for 30 minutes. Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms and champignons, removing the stems and rinsing them first.
2. Place a frying pan over medium heat and fry the onion in olive oil.
3. Remove the onion. Add butter and vegetable oil to the remaining olive oil in the pan. Fry mushrooms (except dry ones), ground pepper and oregano in the mixture for 10 minutes. All this time the products must be stirred.
4. Drain and filter the liquid from the dried mushrooms, leaving 175 ml. Wash and chop the mushrooms.
5. Add the onion back to the pan, add the dried mushrooms, and pour in the liquid from underneath them. Remove from heat after one minute of boiling.
6. Cook the porridge: add corn flour to boiling salted water. Stir and cook until thick. Place the cereal in a mold and let cool.
7. Cut the porridge into pieces, put mushroom stew and marjoram on each. Garnish with oregano.

In a slow cooker

• Time: 70 minutes.
• Number of servings: 2 persons.
• Calorie content: 105.9 kcal.
• Purpose: breakfast, lunch.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

In a slow cooker, classic polenta porridge is prepared easier and easier than over a fire. Corn tortillas can be prepared for breakfast, served for lunch instead of bread, as the Italians do, or after cooking, add vegetables (for example, peeled tomatoes, carrots or paprika) and enjoy as a separate dish. To prepare polenta in a multicooker, two modes are used: boiling and baking.

Ingredients:

• water – 0.75 liters;
• corn grits – 330 grams;
• butter – 30 grams;
• Parmesan cheese – 30 grams;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the corn grits in cold water, then dry them.
2. Place the porridge in the multicooker bowl and fill it with water. Add salt to taste and a small piece of butter to the cereal. Close the multicooker lid and cook in the appropriate mode for 50 minutes until done.
3. After the cooking process is complete, sprinkle the surface of the thick porridge with grated Parmesan. Close the lid and bake the porridge in the desired mode for 10 minutes.
4. Serve the dish with fresh vegetables.

With pumpkin

• Time: 40 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content: 133 kcal.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

You can delight children with polenta with pumpkin for breakfast or serve it as a dessert for an afternoon snack. In winter, porridge will help fill the body with vitamins and nutrients. Bright orange color lifts your spirits, “warms” you and mentally brings the onset of spring closer. The cereal turns out to be soft, tender, and sweetish in taste, which will appeal to both children and adults with a sweet tooth.

Ingredients:

• water – 0.6 liters;
• corn grits – 200 grams;
• butter – 40 grams;
• pumpkin – 100 grams;
• sage – 5 grams;
• parmesan – 100 grams;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Rinse the corn grits, add water and salt.
2. Stirring, bring the porridge to a boil over medium heat.
3. Turn the heat to low and cook the porridge, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
4. Add pumpkin puree with sage, cook for 15 minutes until the porridge begins to pull away from the walls.
5. Remove the porridge from the heat, add Parmesan and butter.
6. Serve hot.

With spinach

• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Number of servings: 6 persons.
• Calorie content: 361 kcal.
• Purpose: lunch, dinner.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

There are two types of spinach polenta recipe: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. For the second option, you will find bacon in the ingredient list, but you can do without it. The dish can be served for lunch or dinner hot or cold. Prepare polenta in molds in advance, and when it’s time to serve lunch or dinner, simply reheat the porridge in the oven.

Ingredients:

• water – 1 liter;
• corn grits – 330 grams;
• eggs - 4 pcs.;
• butter – 10 grams;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• spinach – 1 bunch;
• cheese – 100 grams;
• milk – 50 grams;
• bacon - 2 pieces;
• vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons;
• smoked brisket – 200 grams;
• salt - to taste;
• pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the onion and brisket into small cubes. Fry the ingredients in vegetable oil for 5 minutes until the onion is soft.
2. Add the chopped spinach to the pan, stir for 30 seconds to loosen the spinach a little. Remove ingredients from heat.
3. Cook the polenta.
4. While the porridge is cooking, mix eggs, milk. Whisk the ingredients.
5. Add shredded cheese, bacon, onion and spinach to mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Lubricate the baking dish with butter, lay out the porridge, fill it with the mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes. 10 minutes before cooking, sprinkle with cheese, let it brew in the oven.
7. Cut the slightly cooled polenta into pieces. You can serve the dish to the table.

With shrimps

• Time: 80 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content: 330 kcal.
• Purpose: lunch, dinner.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: difficult.

Shrimp polenta is a truly royal dish. It can be served on the table not only for a family lunch or dinner. Shrimp porridge will be served on the table for a holiday, for example, as a separate hot dish for a birthday, anniversary or Christmas. Cooking porridge will require a little time and culinary skills. But guests will be pleased with the unusual taste and will ask for more.

Ingredients:

• corn flour – 250 grams;
• cheddar cheese – 50 grams;
• butter - 40 grams;
• grated parmesan – 30 grams;
• vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons;
• bacon - 4 pieces;
• medium peeled shrimp – 30 pieces;
• champignons – 6 pieces;
• garlic – 1 clove;
• lemons – 1 piece;
• chicken broth – 100 ml;
• Tabasco sauce – 1 teaspoon;
• green onions – 4 stalks;
• salt - to taste;
• black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Bring four cups of water to a light boil. Add corn flour, stirring the water, cook for half an hour.
2. Stir in grated cheddar, Parmesan, and 20 grams of butter. Salt, pepper, cover with a lid.
3. Heat a frying pan, add bacon in small cubes, fry for 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Leave the rendered fat in the pan.
4. Salt and pepper the shrimp and place in a frying pan. Fry for 2 minutes, during which time turn over once. Transfer to a plate.
5. Throw thinly sliced ​​mushrooms into the pan. Simmer, stirring, for five minutes, add chopped garlic, cook for another minute. Pour in the broth and let the liquid boil by a third.
6. Put the shrimp back, add a tablespoon of lemon juice, oil, Tabasco sauce. Cook for another minute.
7. Place food on plates and place shrimp on top. Top each serving with bacon and chopped onion.

Sweet polenta

• Time: 30 minutes.
• Number of servings: 2 persons.
• Calorie content: 170 kcal.
• Purpose: breakfast, afternoon snack.
• Cuisine: Italian.
• Difficulty: easy.

You can diversify the taste of Italian polenta not only with cheese, spinach, shrimp or bacon. If you are a sweet lover, you can make a dish with berries and fruits, season porridge with sugar instead of salt or peanut butter instead of Tabasco sauce. The beneficial properties of polenta make it possible to replace the famous morning oatmeal with it. The sweet taste will appeal to both children and adults.

Ingredients:

• corn flour – 100 grams;
• water – 0.5 ml;
• apple – 1 pc.;
• peanut butter – 1 tbsp. l.;
• raisins - a handful to taste;
• berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries) - a handful to taste;
• cinnamon - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the cornmeal into a saucepan, cover with water, stirring, bring to a boil.
2. Add chopped apple and raisins. Continue cooking for 7-8 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to low, add peanut butter, stir porridge.
4. Place in a bowl and garnish with berries and cinnamon.

How and with what is best to serve

Polenta can be served as a main dish or a side dish; baked or fried, it is a substitute for bread. Porridge is combined with complex culinary delights (Bourguignon beef, fish dishes, such as cod), and sauces. Italians prepare garlic sauce in butter with the addition of herbs (parsley, dill). Italians serve the dish this way: they heat up pieces of porridge, decorate it with cubes of feta and slices of pickled cucumbers.

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Polenta - what is it: recipes for dishes made from corn grits

Looking for a classic polenta recipe? Well, I think to myself: if you came here, it means you are interested, and specifically in the classics, and not in what is written on the packaging. So, my dears, I have to disappoint you. Right from the very beginning. Look at this photo. Do you have such a boiler? No? If not, then you won’t get classic polenta, no matter what recipe you use to cook it. Because classic polenta is made in a thick-walled copper kettle over a wood fire. That's it! (By the way, "basta" is Italian.)

On a wood fire - this does not mean "on a fire." In Italy, until the end of the twentieth century, wood-burning stoves were very actively used in villages. And not only in Italy, by the way. If, say, you have a wood-burning stove at your dacha, then you have a chance to cook classic polenta. The only catch is the thick-walled copper boiler. Both wall thickness and material are very important. Copper is the most heat-conducting material of all used for cookware. It heats up very quickly and cools just as quickly when you remove the pan from the heat. Well, the thickness of the boiler allows it to be used in extreme heat, at those temperatures at which modern thin alloyed copper cookware simply deforms and changes color. In short, a pure copper old thick-walled boiler is a THING!!! But they are no longer produced. Ours is hereditary. But I don’t have a wood-burning stove, so even I can’t show you the recipe for classic polenta, even if I have the right boiler. I haven’t scared you off yet, will you continue reading?

Polenta is an old recipe, but not exactly from hoary antiquity. Corn came to Europe after the discovery of America, and in warm countries it seriously displaced other, more demanding and less productive cereal crops. In Italy, accordingly, polenta replaced pulse: a porridge made from ground spelled, millet, barley and spelt, known since the times of Ancient Rome. In short, the cereal has changed, but the recipe remains the same. So the technology for making polenta is damn old, and in our refined 21st century conditions it is very difficult to make it in its classic form.

I also tried classic polenta - exactly once in my life, my father-in-law prepared it when my parents came to meet me. The father-in-law's name was Giuseppe Manyago, he was from South Tyrol, whose inhabitants are called by Italians from the plains: “polenta eaters.” In short, I know the recipe, I can tell it, but I can’t cook it, because it’s simply impossible to install a domed copper boiler on a ceramic electric stove! I cook polenta in a cast iron flat-bottomed cauldron adapted for electric stoves. Will it suit you?

The main secret of the classic polenta, which distinguishes it from the product that has replaced it now, is the use of two types of cereals, with different grinding calibers. In Italy, you should take the coarsest and medium grinding, but, apart from the mills there, I have not seen this anywhere else, so in Germany I make it from corn grits and cornmeal. Using two gauges gives a very different consistency to the dish than with smooth flour. But cooking requires a bit more complex calculations than from one type of flour.

Ingredients for polenta are counted not in grams and milliliters, but in volumes. I converted it to grams for this recipe, but this is not the traditional approach. It is necessary to explain how this was done normally. You can't imagine an Italian man at a wood-burning stove, measuring out flour and water with a scale and a measuring cup, can you?

The ratio of cereals for classic polenta, our Giuseppe used the following: for 1 measure of coarse grinding - 2 measures of fine grinding. And water - 4 times more than corn grits in total. That is, 12 cups of water, 2 cups of fine-grained cornmeal, and 1 cup of coarse-grained cornmeal. Cup, bowl, mug - it doesn’t matter anymore, you know? Historically, there was a large cauldron, and there was some kind of small container with which water and cereals were measured.

The water is brought to a boil and salted.

First, pour a bowl of large-caliber cereal into boiling salted water. Cook for about 5 minutes.

And after that, 2 cups of cornmeal are poured in a thin stream with very thorough stirring. When they hit the water, the polenta starts to spit wildly, you can seriously burn yourself. Much worse than just boiling water, because it is a sticky substance. Therefore, it makes sense to close the pot with polenta for a minute or two.

When you hear that the spitting has stopped, the lid can be removed. Then there are two cooking strategies: over low heat with almost no stirring (you get a homogeneous polenta) and over high heat with stirring (you get a dense polenta with a coarser and more heterogeneous structure). The first is easier to prepare and more beautiful, the second is more labor-intensive, but, according to our family, it tastes better.

Today is the birthday of the senior representative of our branch of the Manyago family, and the festive dinner was held at our place, so I prepared exactly their favorite option: labor-intensive and scary-looking. In short, what you will see from me is not a cooking defect, but a special honor for the birthday person. Nobody forbids you to leave the lid closed, reduce the heat to low and simmer the polenta for about half an hour.

I have to stir the polenta from the edge to the center and in a circle for 20 minutes over high heat. Those. it turns out that I am, in fact, whipping it. The parallel stripes on the walls are traces of a spatula. From top to bottom and to the center, the next movement is a little to the right, and so on, all the time in a circle. The high heat allows layers of thicker "skin" to form, which I continually stir into the liquid inner layers. Stirring stops when the polenta is actually pushed away from the wall of the boiler in this way. It should form into a single dense lump. The fact that it is heterogeneous is considered a special chic in our country. I’ll cook homogeneous liquid polenta in a saucepan.

After thickening, the surface of the polenta is compacted so that it becomes more or less even, and the polenta is kept on medium heat for another 5 minutes.

After removing from the stove, allow the polenta to cool for 5-10 minutes. It makes sense to pierce its edges with a spatula to the very bottom so that they can be easily separated from the walls. Next, a round serving board is pressed against the polenta. By no means a plate! If you want classics, then you need an absolutely flat wooden surface; such plates simply do not exist. I'll show you why a little further.

The pot of polenta is turned over and the polenta is planted on a wooden board. I can clearly see here that a crust has separated from the bottom of the boiler. So, you will have to tear it off and throw it away, because the pot is cast iron and there is a black burn on the crust, and the crust itself is very hard and slightly bitter. But you can even eat a crust from a copper boiler, it is different. But it is not served with the polenta that is on the board; it is torn off and eaten for breakfast with milk. Well, at least our Giuseppe did.

Should it be brought to a crisp? Classic polenta - yes, you definitely should. This gives it a special aroma - along with the smell of smoke from a wood-burning stove.

Now look carefully. This is a serving of classic polenta, but it’s straight up like a polenta - it doesn’t get any better than a polenta: on a wooden board and with a string. The string should either be tied to two sticks, or have loops at the ends that you can stick your fingers through. It is also advisable to use a flat, wide spoon to transfer layers of polenta onto the eaters’ plates.

The fact is that classic polenta is cut not with a knife, but with a thread, and it is cut from the bottom up, not from the top down. The thread is brought under the polenta from below to the thickness of the piece, stretched and pulled upward at both ends. This is why you need a board and not a plate: plates always have sides, which get in the way with the classic cutting method.

In general, sorry for such a recipe with the volume of War and Peace, but classic polenta with all the bells and whistles is a dish that requires a lot of explanation. Because of the bells and whistles and because all the utensils for preparing it are simply not used in modern kitchens. For example, I make this polenta only for family holidays. It's a bit of a show. But these are also traditions. Our son is just as interested in cutting polenta with a string as it was fun for his father and uncles to do as a child.

Maybe you could still prepare the polenta according to the recipe on your package? It's probably simpler.

Among the many Italian treasures that have become public property are culinary ones. Risotto, pasta, pizza, polenta - the most resounding “roll call” of Italian cuisine. In this list of celebrities, polenta has a special place. Having transformed from a poor man's porridge into a gourmet dish, it is priced at a shocking amount in some fine dining restaurants, even though the ingredients are the same as in the old village recipe. However, at the same time it is also the most democratic dish that can be found in any Italian trattoria*.

* type of restaurant where there is no menu, but what is cooked is served to you.

Polenta: a short culinary dossier

Polenta has been known since at least the 16th century. To be fair, it should be said that long before Columbus brought corn to Italy, a similar porridge was cooked based on chopped chestnuts, peas, buckwheat, millet, and all this was called polenta. But after the expansion of corn cobs into the northern provinces of Italy, the history of polenta began a new countdown.

Corn polenta is porridge, bread, and pasta, in general, what the peasants of Lombardy, Piedmont and other northern regions began and ended their day with. Arrogant southerners nicknamed them polentoni (polenta eaters), receiving in response from their northern cousins ​​an equally caustic one - maccheroni (pasta).

Each region has added its own twist to the polenta recipe, mostly out of a desire to make this simple dish even more delicious. Even if you don’t have the temperament of an Italian chef, you can experiment in your own kitchen and learn everything, as they say, by experience.

How to cook corn polenta: important details

But that's not all. Experts advise: to make polenta soft, use 3 parts water and 1 part corn flour, plus 40-50 minutes of constant stirring over low heat. All other cooking methods are considered frivolous deviations from firmly established rules.

“Historical” technology involves the use of copper utensils - a cauldron in which the porridge is cooked, and a frying pan in which the finished porridge is fried, however, the latter is not necessary. Once upon a time, this process was not complete without a special polenta pot, Paiolo, hanging over the hearth and a long wooden spoon known as a Tarello.

In a modern kitchen, all you need is a good, heavy, heavy-bottomed saucepan and some cornmeal or, if you're lucky, a package of instant polenta. Although the cooking work is not as painstaking as it used to be, corn polenta still requires attention and occasional stirring.

Basic polenta recipe

• 1.5 glasses of water
• half cup yellow cornmeal
• salt to taste

ON A NOTE

If you don't have copper cookware, which is likely the case, use a thick-walled cast iron pan.

If corn flour is unavailable, you can replace it with corn grits. It's worse, but acceptable. Stirring is not canceled in this case either, but readiness occurs earlier - usually after 20-25 minutes. If you are using a package of polenta, cook according to the instructions.

Cooking and serving options

The key to polenta's popularity is its versatility. Polenta made from corn flour can be transformed, like Cinderella: it looks like a village simpleton - it’s just corn porridge! - it appears in the form of elegantly tailored quenelles from the chef of Grande cuisine.

In Italy, soft, warm polenta often replaces bread during meals, or is served instead of pasta, with cheese and truffle oil.

Polenta can also be served as a contorno (side dish) with original meat dishes, such as Osso Buco - meat shank stewed in wine, as well as lamb or rabbit meat. In Venice, corn polenta is a mandatory accompaniment to all fish dishes.

Due to the homogeneous structure of the finished polenta, it can be easily divided into pieces in the form of briquettes. They are heated in the oven or microwave, and a piece of feta is placed on top or cream cheese is spread, finishing the structure with pickled sweet peppers for piquancy. Want something more original? Place thin slices of lard on top of the polenta.

Another option for the oven: grate Parmigiano Reggiano and layer it with several improvised “cakes” of cooled polenta, folding them into a cake, then quickly bake - what’s not a snack Napoleon?

Polenta does great on the grill; The pieces of polenta browned in this way are placed on a slice of fresh bruschetta, similar to the traditional filling of mushrooms and tomatoes.

You can do even easier with leftover polenta. Without additional hassle, fry in a frying pan in butter, sprinkling with any hard cheese at the end.
Sweet polenta is eaten for breakfast, dipping small pieces into coffee with milk or cappuccino.