This is the first time I’ve ever cooked or tasted Polenta and I really had no expectations of taste or texture. For those (like me a few days ago) that don’t know, Polenta is a grainy texture like fine cous cous, but when water or milk is added it becomes sort of like mashed potato. You can serve it like this or you can spread it out on a cold plate or tray and leave it to set, then it can be sliced up and fried in oil.
After mixing the polenta with the boiling water I had a little taste and soon realised that this strange stuff is really just a carrier for flavour as it’s really quite bland!
In this recipe the flavours added are garlic, chilli, rosemary and cheese (I used reduced fat cheese – old habits die hard!). When it was boiling in the pan it became almost volcanic so watch out! I took a few hits and it’s so messy!
Once I had boiled it, poured it out and let it set it became oddly flexible – not what I expected at all – and it was very easy to slice up ready to be fried! Theres no need to be too delicate with this stuff.
The flavour balance was delicious and much stronger than I’d expected and I think it would have tasted even nice if I’d used a mature cheddar as it suggested in the recipe. I think for a beginner this is a pretty fool proof recipe, it was easy to make and everything came out like it was meant to 
It would be really nice as a rustic lunch or even as a side dish but I do think next time I’d make half the amount of tomato sauce because that drowned out the polenta a little bit!
What I have learnt about Polenta:
Well it definitely needs a good amount of flavour adding to it to make it more exciting! It’s a very versatile and forgivable ingredient, I felt like you couldn’t go too wrong with the process! It definitely got me thinking about flavour combinations which could be used with polenta so I have lots of ideas
Also I found out that once you have set the polenta (before frying it in slices) it can be frozen. This was great because I had made too much so I now have batches in the freezer ready to be defrosted and fried
My husband said that he thought it tasted a bit like a cheesy pancake – not sure if this is what its meant to taste like but I liked it!
So Polenta Challenge week one is over, any advice on Polenta is of course welcome! Next week I’m going to cook a polenta pudding (Another versatile ingredient)
NB I’ve also taken part in a challenge on a great blog Ive found - Jo’s Kitchen – River Cottage Rocks – What a great idea to get people cooking recipes from the River Cottage Collections! I got the River Cottage Veg for christmas and have hardly put it down . thanks Jo! x
Posted by reluctantlymeatfree on February 3, 2012 at 11:48 am
I made some Pecorino and rosemary polenta the other week. First time I’d tried it as well! I served it in place of mashed potato with a stew and plated it up too early. By the time it got to the table it was a solid, wobbly mound!
Posted by veghotpot on February 3, 2012 at 1:28 pm
I know its so weird isn’t it how it goes wobbly when it sets! i have to say this amused me for ages, I kept picking it up when it had set on the plate! That’s the sort of thing I would do so thanks for the heads up – warm plates and quick service needed with polenta! x
Posted by whatevermakesyousmile on February 3, 2012 at 12:02 pm
I have never tasted polenta, but you sure did a good job copying the picture (with me, it aaaaalways looks different from the picture
). Looks tasty 
Posted by veghotpot on February 3, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Half way through I thought it was going to look nothing like the picture lol but it turned out alright
Polenta needs a lot of flavour to go with it but I actually quite like it now x
Posted by Heather @ SugarDish(Me) on February 4, 2012 at 1:05 am
I always wander past the polenta in the grocery store and think I ought to bring it home to experiment… you’ve inspired me. This looks good!
Posted by veghotpot on February 6, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I hadn’t cooked it before but I’m suprised by how easy it was, it seems like quite a forgivable ingredient so definitely have an experiment
thanks for the comment x x
Posted by mygoalcalledlife on February 8, 2012 at 3:18 pm
My stomach is growling looking at your blog posts! I love polenta – there are so many ways to prepare it…you can even try throwing slices of it on the grill along with some veggies!
Love your blog!
Posted by veghotpot on February 8, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Hey, thanks for the polenta advice I had no idea you could grill it too! I will definitely try that! After this month I think I’ll have polenta coming out of my ears lol x
Posted by River Cottage Rocks #1: Everyday Easy – The Round Up | Jo's Kitchen on February 21, 2012 at 10:30 pm
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[...] River Cottage Veg that I posted at the beginning of my polenta challenge (you can see that post here). Out of all the ways I have now tried cooking polenta, setting it and then frying it was my [...]