What is polenta in cooking recipes. Polenta: what is it, how to properly prepare a traditional dish of Italian cuisine

Polenta is the name of an Italian dish, but there are also many analogues. For example, in Transcarpathia they like to cook banosh, in Romania - hominy, in Georgia - gomi, and in Serbia - cacamak.

Polenta can be eaten as a side dish or independent dish with various fillings (honey and dried fruits, mushrooms, eggplants, tomatoes, meat, fish and seafood, shrimps).

The dish can be eaten cold and hot, it is fried, baked and even cooked in a slow cooker, and in Italy polenta is often used as bread.

Required Ingredients:

For cooking classic polenta you will need: corn grits, water or broth, butter and hard cheese.

• If you want to avoid lumps, it is recommended to pour in slowly corn grits into boiling water or broth and stir constantly. You can also sprinkle the cereal into cold water, beat vigorously and bring to a boil. If the lumps do turn out, you can get rid of them with a hand blender.
• Polenta is ready if it starts to lag behind the sides of the pan.
• In order for the polenta to turn out soft, it is recommended to put it in a bowl moistened with cold water, let it stand for 10 minutes, then put on a plate. In this case, the dish will be very soft.
• Thick polenta can be obtained by placing cooked corn porridge on a baking sheet, let it cool, then cut into squares and fry.
• You can cut the polenta into even pieces using a pizza knife or an ordinary one, but first dipping it in hot water.

Polenta cooking utensils

Historical technology involves the use of copper utensils to prepare polenta. In the modern world, you can give preference to a saucepan with a thick bottom, a frying pan with non-stick coating or a slow cooker. It is recommended to stir the porridge with a wooden spoon.

What to combine polenta with

The classic version of polenta is with cheese and butter or olive oil. You can also experiment and prepare a dish with a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms. Combine with meat and fish.

Grain quality

The flavor of polenta depends on the quality of the corn grits. The dish should be soft, smooth and creamy. This effect can only be achieved with high-quality cereals.

For example, corn grits TM "Zhmenka" made of special selected varieties of sweet corn, does not contain stalks (white pieces of corn heads), because it is produced by the process of cutting corn kernels from the head and thoroughly grinding, so polenta always turns out to be tasty and tender.

Advice from reader Katerina Gutnik:

I share my recipe for making polenta
We take: corn flour - 400 g, water - 1.6 liters, olive oil - 1 tbsp. and salt.

To prepare polenta, place a pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Then add an incomplete spoonful of salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil... Then very slowly, so as not to cause the formation of lumps, pour corn flour and stir well with a wooden spoon. The more polenta is cooked, the tastier it will be. After cooking, the polenta is served hot on a traditional wooden cutting board, already chopped.

My friend from Italy prepares very tasty polenta baked with cheese:
In addition to cooked polenta, you will need: Gorgonzola cheese - 400 g, Parmesan cheese - 40 g and butter 100 g.

Grease a baking dish with butter and cover the bottom with half of the soft polenta. Then place the slices of gorgonzola, parmesan and small cubes of butter. Cover with another layer of polenta, gorgonzola slices and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake polenta with cheese in an oven preheated to 180 ° for about 15-20 minutes.

Step-by-step recipe for polenta with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes:

Corn grits TM "Zhmenka" - 1.5 cups
Mushrooms - 300 g
Tomatoes - 200 g
Vegetable broth - 4 cups
Cream - 0.5 cups
Bulb onions - 2 pcs.
Garlic - 2 cloves
Hard cheese - 100 g
Chicken egg - 1 pc.
Olive oil, salt, pepper mix, basil, oregano

1. We wash the corn grits thoroughly. To make the polenta tasty, it is recommended to use 3 parts water and 1 part corn grits.
2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and spread the finely chopped onion. Fry for 3 minutes and pour in the broth. Let it simmer for about 4 minutes.
3. Fry mushrooms and tomatoes in a pan, chopped in large pieces... Add garlic, salt and a mixture of ground peppers. Fry for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add basil and oregano to a saucepan with broth and onions, and also add corn grits, reduce heat and stir constantly so that there are no lumps. After 3 minutes, pour in the cream. Cook for another 15 minutes, stirring actively! Then add the grated cheese. Salt and pepper. The polenta should be well behind the sides of the pot. Next, put the porridge on a baking sheet and send it to bake for 10 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees.
5. We take the polenta out of the oven, let it cool, and then cut it into squares (or circles), and put the mixture of mushrooms and tomatoes on top. You can decorate with fresh basil leaves and poached egg (boil water, add 1 tablespoon vinegar, break the egg into a plate. Stir the water with a wooden spoon, creating a funnel and pour the egg into it. Cook for 4-5 minutes)

Advice from reader Svetlana Chernysh:

Polenta - favorite dish Italians. I have tried making polenta several times. I will share my secrets. I ground my corn grits in a coffee grinder to make corn flour!

Polenta with chicken and mushroom sauce

You need to take: chicken fillet - 4 pcs., Champignons - 500 g., A clove of garlic, dry white wine - 125 ml., Corn flour - 1.5 cups (we make in a coffee grinder), water - 100 ml., Butter - 3 tbsp. l., herbs, salt, pepper.

Boil water, salt and add corn flour, stirring constantly for 20-30 minutes. The polenta should become viscous and uniform. Put the cooked polenta on big plate and give it shape.
Salt the chicken fillet, pepper and fry in oil. Fry mushrooms separately, add garlic there, salt. Add wine to the mushrooms, when it evaporates, add broth or water. Then fried chicken fillet. Simmer until tender, the sauce is ready! Pour polenta on it, decorate the dish with herbs, as well as grated cheese. Bon Appetit! Very satisfying and delicious!

Step 1: Boil water.

First of all, as with cooking other cereals, we need to boil water in a saucepan. As soon as the water boils, add salt to it and stir.

Step 2: Cook polenta.

Reduce the heat, but so that the water in the pan does not stop boiling quietly. Gently pour the corn grits into the boiling water in a thin stream. In this case, the porridge needs to be stirred all the time. Important: keep the fire to a minimum, otherwise the porridge may splatter and burn you.
Continue to cook the polenta, stirring all the time. When I say all the time, I really mean that it should be done at least once a day. 2-3 minutes throughout the entire cooking process. Usually it takes to cook this porridge 25-30 minutes.


You will know that polenta is ready by the fact that it thickens well. So much so that you can run the spoon along the bottom of the pot from edge to edge and you'll have a very clear line. In addition, the ready-made polenta perfectly holds the spoon in an upright position and easily lags behind the edges of the pan.
V ready-made porridge add the butter and, after removing the pan from the heat, mix the contents well again.

Step 3: Serve the polenta.

Polenta can be served in several ways. You can, for example, serve it immediately after cooking, spreading it out on portioned plates. Serve it as a stand-alone dish, garnished with a sprig of herbs or a slice of butter, or serve polenta as a side dish, such as a stew, baked chicken, or some other meat dish.


You can also put polenta from the pan on a baking sheet immediately after cooking and smooth with a spatula. Then wait until it cools down to room temperature and put the porridge in the refrigerator. There it will thicken even more, after which it can be cut into rectangles and served as a side dish or as a main dish with various sauces.
I hope polenta will appeal to you and your family and become one of your favorite dishes. After all, this is really a very tasty, satisfying, and, most importantly, natural and healthy dish.
Bon Appetit!

If you want to add vegetables, seafood or chicken to polenta, then these ingredients must be prepared in advance, for example, by frying them in a separate frying pan, and then add to the porridge.

If you do not add butter to the porridge, then you will get lean vegetarian dish... But do not forget that polenta is a very satisfying and high-calorie dish, like many other dishes made from cereals.

Cured polenta can be chopped and sautéed in olive oil or lightly baked in the oven. Try it, it will give the finished dish a whole new flavor.

Try adding some grated cheese to the polenta at the end of cooking and stirring vigorously.

Corn porridge recipes

polenta recipe

25 minutes

90 kcal

5 /5 (1 )

Are you tired of standard cereals and want some kind of variety? Prepare Italian polenta... it a traditional dish north of Italy since the 16th century. It is also common in the southern part of Switzerland. In addition, it is often prepared in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria. Kachamak, zhgantsy, hominy - these are all names for polenta. It is served instead of bread or as a side dish. They make sandwiches from it and cut out figures for children. Despite its simple preparation, it is prepared by the best restaurant chefs. They make of this simple dish real culinary masterpieces.

Important points in making polenta

• Pot to prepare polenta should be with a thick or double bottom... A cast iron cauldron is ideal for this. In a thin-walled saucepan, the polenta is more likely to burn.
• You can cook it as on milk and on the water... But always with the addition of butter.
• The smaller grind corn grits, the more tender the polenta will be. It's better to use cornmeal or real instant polenta in general.
• The correct polenta is needed stir all the time.
• Polenta without parmesan Is not polenta. So do not skimp on a small piece of this cheese. As a last resort, it can be replaced with another hard cheese.
• You need to stir the polenta with a wooden or silicone spatula. And you can also use for this silicone whisk.

Italian Polenta with Cheese Recipe

Kitchen tools: saucepan, frying pan, wooden spatula, grater, cutting board.

List of ingredients

Step by step cooking

It prepares in the same way. And for amateurs Caucasian cuisine I recommend to cook it.

How to serve polenta

Here are just a few ways to serve polenta. In fact, there are a lot of them. That is why she never gets bored.

1. The easiest way is to add more a piece of butter, stir and place on plates. You can also put honey or jam on the table.
2. We need a small rectangular shape or sudechki. Lubricate the dish with butter. Put the finished polenta tightly into it and cool it completely. When it cools down, put it in the refrigerator for 25 minutes. We walk with a knife between the polenta and the form. Turn over and take out. Cut into 1 cm slices.Place a cheese plate on each piece and send for 5 minutes to hot oven or microwave.
3. Grease a baking sheet with oil and spread the polenta. We level and leave to harden. When it becomes solid, we cut it into portioned squares... They can simply be fried in a pan with olive or vegetable oil and serve with hot coffee or tea. Or you can form a sandwich and reheat it in the microwave or oven.
4. From one square of polenta, which we cooled on a baking sheet, squeeze the middle with a glass. Place it in a preheated skillet with butter and pour the egg into the center. You can sprinkle cheese on top. Unusual and hearty scrambled eggs for breakfast ready.
5. For children, you can squeeze out various figures and water them condensed milk or melted chocolate.
6. Can be cooked polenta with vegetables... To do this, cut into strips any seasonal vegetables: eggplant, pepper, tomato, onion. We simmer them until tender. Put the still hot polenta on a plate, move it apart and put the vegetables in the center.
7. Can I submit polenta pizza... To do this, form a round cake on a greased baking sheet of still soft porridge and leave to set. During this time, fry a couple of mushrooms, cut the ham or sausage, cut the cherry tomatoes in half. We put it all on the cake. It can be brushed with ketchup or sauce if desired. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 5 minutes in a well-heated oven.
8. We mix cottage cheese with chopped herbs... We take a little polenta in our hand. We make a deepening, put cottage cheese in it and form a ball. Such koloboks can be served directly to the table or fried in a deep fat fryer.

And finally, I want to say that it is very convenient to cook polenta, like corn porridge, in a slow cooker. The teflon coating of the bowl will definitely prevent it from burning, even if you are distracted from stirring.

How to make corn grits polenta properly. Simple and tasty italian dish... Polenta - detailed recipe cooking with a photo.

Cooking time- 1-1.5 hours.

Caloric content per 100 g- 90 kcal.

Polenta - a dish made from crushed corn kernels first appeared in Italy in the 16th century. After Columbus brought this golden cereal from America to Europe. Initially, this dish was prepared only by the poor. However, over time, it became widespread and won the love of Italian gourmets, turning from an ordinary peasant food into exquisite 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 .. In addition, it can be supplemented with vegetables, cheese, mushrooms, meat, or and get completely independent and very hearty dish... Children are best served with sweet fruit polenta. In general, any gourmet will find a recipe to his taste. If you master classic recipe cooking polenta, then all its other variations will not seem difficult for you.

How to make corn grits polenta

To do this, you need to take:

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

For the preparation of this dish, very fine corn grits are used - almost flour. It is called "polenta". To be more precise, it is not even cereal, but coarsely ground corn flour, even made of it. By the way, the taste of the dish greatly depends on its quality. You can never make real polenta from cheap low-grade flour - smooth and velvety, with tender, creamy taste(site). But that's not all. Before you can make corn grits polenta, you will need to find a deep copper pot or heavy-walled saucepan. 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 the Italian housewives prepared their traditional dish. But, given that it is quite problematic to get such a boiler nowadays, you can also use an ordinary teflon heat-resistant saucepan. So, you will need to measure out exactly 3 glasses 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 a minimum 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 slowly. When the porridge begins to slightly lag behind the walls of the pan, and this will happen not earlier than after half an hour, the fire can be turned off.

Spoon the cooked porridge onto a shallow baking sheet or into another suitable container about a centimeter thick.

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

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

Polenta is a dish, the name of which has been heard by many, but probably everyone has tried it, but not everyone knows about it. Polenta is called crushed corn kernels, as well as a dish Italian cuisine Polenta is basically a corn porridge made from crushed grains. It seems to be an ordinary porridge that we all ate in childhood, why suddenly it became a masterpiece of Italian culinary art? To answer this question, let's turn to history. Polenta has been known since the 16th century, when corn was brought from America to Europe, then it became widespread and became the favorite food of peasants. Polenta was cooked soft, hard, cut into pieces, baked or fried, new dishes appeared, based on corn porridge, and gradually polenta won the hearts of Italian gourmets. Polenta and dishes based on it reached their peak in popularity at the end of the 20th century, going beyond the borders of Italy, this dish turned into a gourmet dish that has become an adornment of many restaurant menus.

Polenta in its pure form, that is, just corn porridge in a cafe or restaurant is now unlikely to be found, it is served under meat or mushroom sauces add cheeses and vegetables. Polenta - versatile dish, it tastes good both cold and hot, it can be made sweet or salty, hard or soft, grainy or tender and creamy. Cooking polenta is a long and laborious process that requires constant stirring during cooking. Some shops offer "instant" polenta, ie. semi-finished product, for the preparation of which a minimum of effort and time is required. But the most delicious and correct polenta will turn out only for those who cook it themselves in a deep copper frying pan or cauldron with a rounded bottom, constantly stirring with a wooden spatula with a long handle.

Polenta is a truly beloved dish by Italians, because if they did not love, they would not arrange a holiday in his honor. A grandiose culinary celebration annually takes place in the small town of Sermoneta, where from the very morning large copper cauldrons are displayed on the streets, in which delicious polenta is cooked over an open fire. The holiday is accompanied by live music, competitions, performances and tastings, and all this splendor ends hearty lunch right on the central square of the city, where everyone is offered polenta cooked in a huge copper cauldron according to the Italians' favorite recipe.

Traditionally, polenta is cooked in a deep copper kettle, coarse cornmeal, which looks like fine grits, is kneaded into the water and stirred with a wooden spoon until it thickens enough to stick to the spoon, usually after 40-60 minutes from the start of cooking. After that, the polenta is laid out in a round tray, cooled, cut into pieces and served. In this form, polenta can be an excellent side dish, but if you want to offer it as an independent dish, then you will need to take care of the sauces and the further method of preparing it. For example, after boiling, polenta can be baked in the oven with cheese and butter added, fried in butter, cut into sticks, or shaped into balls and grilled.

There are ways to prepare polenta, as well as ways to serve it. great amount, the main thing is to choose or come up with your own, then on your table, in addition to the usual rice, pasta and potatoes, a new low-calorie side dish or an independent dish rich in carbohydrates will appear, which means that it will not only saturate, but also give energy. Separately, it is necessary to say about useful substances contained in polenta. it minerals such as potassium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and zinc, as well as B vitamins, E vitamins, beta-carotene and biotin. As you can see, polenta is a great example of delicious and healthy food, which means it is suitable for those who follow their figure and adhere to the principles healthy eating... But enough words, it's time to cook!

Polenta with vegetable and cheese sauce

Ingredients:
250 grams of corn grits,
1 l. water,
salt,
2 carrots,
1 onion head
2 cloves of garlic
80 gr. butter,
50 gr. olive oil,
2 tomatoes,
1 tbsp tomato paste,
ground black pepper,
ground red pepper,
5 sprigs of cilantro,
100 grams of processed cheese
50 gr. hard cheese
1 tbsp with a heap of flour,
150 ml of milk
sweet ground paprika.

Preparation:
Before you start making polenta, make sure you have thick-walled pans, ideally copper, but a cast-iron cauldron will work as well. Pour a liter of water into the cauldron, salt and bring it to a boil. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon, add the corn grits to the water, then reduce the heat and cook the polenta for about 30-40 minutes, stirring constantly. Polenta is ready when it begins to lag behind the walls and becomes viscous. Put the finished polenta on a round tray or cutting board and shape it as needed. the finished polenta is viscous, then it will not be difficult to do this.

Now, while the polenta is cooling, prepare the sauces. Peel and dice the onion, grate the carrots, place the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds, peel them off and cut into large cubes, finely chop the garlic and cilantro. Melt 50 grams of butter, pour olive oil to it, add onion, fry it until transparent and add carrots. Then add tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste and a tablespoon of water, simmer for a few minutes, then add garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, add flour, mix thoroughly and pour in the milk in a thin stream, without stopping stirring. When the mass boils, add processed cheese, grate hard cheese and add it to the sauce, bring to a boil, add paprika and salt.

Cut the polenta with culinary thread or a pizza knife, put a piece of polenta on a plate, pour with cheese sauce, add vegetable sauce and garnish with cilantro.

Ingredients:
4 things. chicken fillet,
2 tbsp olive oil,
450 gr. champignons,
4 cloves of garlic
125 ml. dry white wine
450 ml chicken broth,
2 tbsp chopped parsley,
freshly ground black pepper,
1 tbsp. wholemeal corn flour,
70 ml of milk,
2 tbsp butter,
1 tsp fresh marjoram,
salt.

Preparation:
Season the chicken fillet with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan, add the fillet and fry it over high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove the fillets from the pan. Rinse the mushrooms well and cut them into 1 cm pieces. Peel the garlic and cut each clove in half. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet, add mushrooms, garlic and salt. Cover and simmer until the mushrooms give juice, then remove the lid, increase the heat and fry the mushrooms until golden brown, then pour in the wine and wait for the liquid to evaporate, add the broth and parsley, continue cooking over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Put fried with mushrooms chicken fillet, cover and simmer over low heat until tender. Prepare polenta at this time. In a refractory dish with a lid, combine 3 cups of water, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Cover the dish with a lid and place in the oven at 220 degrees for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, stir and place in the oven again for 15 minutes. Add milk, butter and marjoram to the finished polenta, mix thoroughly, put on a plate, put chicken and mushrooms on top, pour over everything with sauce, garnish with parsley and serve.

Ingredients:
300 gr. corn flour
olive oil,
2 stalks of celery,
shallot,
dried oregano,
freshly ground black pepper,
a mixture of peppers,
2 tomatoes,
6 pcs. cheese for toast,
12 pitted olives,
basil leaves,
salt.

Preparation:
Pour a liter of water into the cauldron, salt and bring it to a boil. Add the cornmeal to the water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, then reduce the heat and cook the polenta for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the heat, cover the cauldron with a lid, wrap with a towel and leave for 30 minutes. Chop the celery, peel and finely chop the onion and sauté everything in hot oil, add pepper and oregano. Add the resulting mixture to the polenta, cook until the liquid has completely evaporated, then transfer the polenta to a square shape and cool. Cut the cold polenta into 6 square or rectangular pieces. Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds, remove the skin and cut into slices. Grease a baking dish with oil, put polenta on top of it, put cheese, tomato slices and 2 olives on each piece. Bake the polenta for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Garnish with basil when serving.

Polenta is becoming an increasingly popular and beloved dish, winning the hearts of people around the world for its neutral taste, which is perfect for meat, mushrooms, fish and vegetables. Salty, sweet, hot, cold, spicy, polenta will be equally delicious in any form, no matter how you serve it. It is worth cooking polenta at least once to make sure that it is as good as they say about it, or maybe it will be able to surpass all your expectations, because it is not for nothing that polenta has become a masterpiece of Italian cuisine!