Contacts
the main/ Secrets

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

Polenta is a very popular dish today. Italian cuisine... It is very simple to prepare and will definitely appeal to those who love corn porridge because it's basically a thick, dense corn porridge cut into cubes. Very often polenta is supplemented with cheese, herbs, vegetables and mushrooms, poured with olive oil with aromatic additives and all kinds of sauces. Polenta can be served as an appetizer, spread over it with some kind of pate, but most often it is served as a side dish for meat dishes. It turns out very satisfying and nutritious!

Ingredients

  • 150 grams of corn flour
  • 600 ml water
  • some salt

For polenta, it's best to choose corn grits medium or fine grinding, as the coarse one will cook for a long time and will not create a characteristic homogeneous structure.

How to make polenta

To prepare polenta, grits and water are taken in a ratio of 1: 4. Boil water in a small saucepan with a thick bottom, adding a pinch of salt to it. When the water boils, add the corn grits to the water. Stir the cereals so that there are no lumps. Cook polenta, stirring occasionally, over low heat. It will gurgle at first.

But very soon the cereal will absorb the water and turn into a thick porridge.

While continuing to stir the polenta, cook for 30-35 minutes. The porridge should begin to stick to the walls and even burn a little - do not try to scrape off the adhering layer. The polenta itself will become very thick: if you slide it to one side of the pan, it should not blur.

Line the small rectangular shape with baking paper and transfer to the polenta shape. Small plastic food trays are fine for this.

Tamp and flatten the polenta so that there are no voids inside.

Then cover the cereal and refrigerate until completely cooled. During this time, the polenta will grab, become even denser and keep its shape. Remove the polenta from the tray and cut into 1 cm thick slices.

Place these pieces on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Send the polenta to the oven at 200-220 degrees for 5-10 minutes. You can put it under the grill - then it will have delicious ruddy edges.

Place a few polenta sticks on a plate in a stack, and before serving, you can pour over any sauce or vegetable oil.

National italian dish- corn polenta! Very tasty and satisfying - with cheese, raisins, vegetables.

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 an incredible number of them. Polenta can be made soft and sweet, or you can make polenta hard and serve cut into pieces. In addition, it can be supplemented with vegetables, cheese, mushrooms, meat or seafood and get completely independent and very hearty dish... Children are best served polenta with sweet fruit. 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.

  • 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. 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... 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 a 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 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. Put 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.

Heat a skillet with butter and sauté the polenta pieces in it.

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

Recipe 2: corn polenta (step by step)

Polenta, in fact, 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, spicy and Bell pepper different colors, garlic, 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 the polenta ingredients. Chop the garlic. The garlic cubes should be approximately 2 mm on a side. Finely chop the pepper (1 pc. Or ½) into 5 mm squares. If you are not a lover of spicy food, remove the seeds from the pepper first, or you can limit yourself to only half hot pepper... Grate both cheeses (soft and hard) on a fine grater.

Fry the garlic and hot peppers in olive oil.

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

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

Add the sauteed pepper and garlic to the cooked corn porridge.

Add soft cheese and parmesan.

Stir.

Line the shape (preferably square) with baking paper, pour out the corn mixture.

Smooth the surface.

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

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

Recipe 3, simple: corn grits polenta

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

Ingredients for polenta are very modest, I can't even believe that this set can be used to make an exquisite dish.

It is ideal to cook classic polenta in copper dishes, stirring with a wooden spoon, but copper dishes are rare in our modern apartments, so you can replace them with a saucepan with thick walls and a bottom or a cauldron. IN thick-walled pan pour in required amount water, add salt and bring the water to a boil.

Most main secret The ideal polenta is the right proportion of food, one part flour and three parts water. Introduce flour in small portions into boiling water and mix well with a spoon so that no lumps form, the porridge should be of a uniform consistency.

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

Cover the baking dish with parchment paper.

Put the cooked corn porridge in the mold, cool it down, then put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After the allotted time, take out the finished polenta from the refrigerator, remove parchment paper, put on a cutting board.

We carefully divide the polenta into portioned pieces to your liking, cut the irregularities, edges.

Fold the chopped pieces into a baking dish, first grease the bottom of the form with sunflower oil. We put it in an oven preheated to 120 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

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

Polenta can be served with vegetables. Polenta can also be served with meat dishes, in Venice it will definitely be served to you with fish dishes.

For breakfast, polenta can be prepared in the form of cucumber tartlets and boiled egg, the best breakfast you can imagine.

Polenta is delicious in combination with any ingredient, 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 tasty, it is customary to eat it dipped in coffee with milk.

Recipe 4: Italian Polenta porridge

Polenta corn porridge is one of the most ancient and favorite dishes of Italians. In northern Italy, it is customary to cook it with the addition of leftovers. different types cheese, as well as with different meat fillings.

From our step by step recipe from the photo you will learn how to make corn flour polenta 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 the Italian polenta a unique taste that cannot be forgotten.

Our photo recipe will help you cook polenta without any problems 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
  • edible salt to taste

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

Pour in slowly and carefully corn flour... Reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes. The main thing is not to forget constantly, to stir so that no lumps form.

Now we proceed to the cheeses: they need to be grated or crumbled ( it depends on the type of cheese you choose for the dish).

After the cooking time of polenta has expired, add the cheeses to it, stirring constantly, until they are completely dissolved.

We heat a frying pan, melt butter in it, add garlic, which must be crushed well beforehand, and sage leaves.

After a few minutes, take out the garlic and sage, and pour the resulting mixture into the porridge. Mix well, decorate with a sprig of thyme - and corn polenta in the old way Italian recipe ready. It can be used like independent dish with some kind of sauce or as a side dish for meat.

Recipe 5: polenta porridge with bell pepper

Polenta - the National dish Italians, an analogue of hominy in Moldavian cuisine.

  • Vegetable oil
  • Flour 2 tablespoons
  • 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 need finely ground corn grits or flour, salt and aromatic herbs(they are optional, you can add at your discretion), onions, vegetable oil, Wheat flour, butter, tomatoes, bell peppers and sour cream.

Stir the groats together with the dried herbs. If you don't want to use them, you can skip this step.

Bring the water to a boil. Pour cereals into it. Pour in a thin stream, stirring the water continuously. It is wrong to pour out all the cereals at once. It will go into lumps. They can be broken, but for this you have to stir the porridge intensively. It is easier to add cereals in portions.

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

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

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

Turn chilled polenta over and place on a wooden board. When it cools, the porridge will slightly decrease in volume and it will be easy to get it out. Cut the polenta with sturdy thread or a wet knife. Do not use a regular knife. Boiled corn will stick to it, and you will only spoil 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 golden brown appears at the bottom. It not only improves taste and appearance dishes, but also makes the pieces stronger, does not allow them to fall apart. In general, polenta is completely ready to eat and not fried. But I decided to cook just such a variant of the dish. In Italy, by the way, it is called polenta fritta.

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

Fry the onion and bell pepper in vegetable oil until softened. Add tomatoes to them and fry until they are soft too.

Add sour cream, salt, pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes under the lid. Pour this sauce over the polenta as it is served. If you want, you can grind the sauce in a blender and then bring to a boil, then it will have a more uniform texture. Let the hot polenta with the sauce stand in a plate 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 cornmeal dish that can be served as a side dish. By supplementing polenta with cheese, 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 salt if desired.

Pre-dry the corn flour in the oven and sift (it is best to take fine flour). While stirring constantly, gradually add corn flour (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, put it in a mold or glass, previously greased with butter. It is good to tamp the porridge with a spoon, having previously moistened it with water.

Put the polenta in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes until it cools completely.

Then get out of the form.

Cut the polenta slightly with a damp knife.

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

Put sheep cheese or cheese on top and put 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 more and more 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... Yes, yes, it is this dish that most of all resembles an Italian delicacy in terms of consistency and method of preparation. Well, by adding greens and mushrooms to it, you will get excellent holiday dish, which may well become the "star" of the entire table.

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

The cooking technology of this dish is arranged in such a way that first you need to make a mushroom "addition", and after that - the polenta itself. So we peel the onion, cut it into half rings, rings or cubes (whoever likes it). We spread it on a frying pan covered with vegetable oil and heated, fry on all sides.

While the onion is fried, quickly peel the mushrooms, cut them into smaller pieces and put them in the pan. Please note that the fire should be rather big: otherwise the mushrooms will immediately start up the water and begin to "boil". Salt the mushrooms and onions, stir them from time to time.

Now let's cook polenta! To begin with, a little educational program: often called polenta corn grits and it is recommended to cook it for 30-40 minutes. This is wrong: in fact, polenta is a very small cornmeal that is cooked almost instantly. Well, the classic corn porridge (hominy) from the corresponding cereal is really worth cooking a little longer. In order to cook polenta, put a pot 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 like in the preparation of semolina porridge: we constantly stir the porridge and make sure that there are no lumps. Do not forget to lightly salt. After 3-5 minutes, the polenta can be considered ready.

Chop green garlic... Instead, you can add to polenta green onions.

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

We process the baking dish with vegetable oil and put the polenta in it.

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

Well, the final layer is cheesy. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put our mold in it. We keep there for up to 10 minutes, until the cheese is completely melted.

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

Try polenta with mushrooms and see for yourself the delicious taste of that dish!

Recipe 8: polenta with tomatoes and meat

a set of products traditional for Italian cuisine - fresh vegetables and meat, and instead of bread it is proposed to cook polenta. Polenta is a steep 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, make it 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.

Polenta appetizer with tomatoes and meat can be served in portions, making turrets, or on 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 gr;
  • lard with layers of meat - 200 gr;
  • salt to taste;
  • mozzarella or any soft cheese - 150 gr;
  • fresh tomatoes (large) - 4-5 pcs;
  • any fresh herbs for serving.

Cut the bacon into small cubes or cubes. We do not cut large, but also not very small, taking into account the fact that the fat will need to be melted to the cracklings.

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

We measure the right amount finely ground corn grits. In appearance, it differs markedly from corn flour, the structure of the cereal is heterogeneous, grains are clearly visible.

Heat a dry frying pan well. Pour out pieces of bacon. We melt the fat, make greaves, but don't fry them too much. Select the greaves with a slotted spoon, set the pan with fat aside for now.

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

We heat, bring the milk with water to almost a boil. Salt to taste.

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

Let the milk boil. Pour all the cereals in a slide until they stir.

The milk continues to boil quietly, the cereal gradually swells. When the milk rises and almost closes the cereal, we take a crush and begin to mix the cereal with milk, as if kneading it.

Gradually, the cereal will absorb the milk, the mass will become viscous and lumpy. It is necessary to knead the cereals well so that there are no dry areas left.

Cover the cauldron with polenta with a lid. We make a small fire, steam the cereals for 20-25 minutes. It should become soft and tender, and absorb all the liquid. Near the walls, the cereal will be baked, slightly fried. Turn the cauldron with the finished polenta onto a plate so that the polenta is on the plate as a slide. Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

We put a frying pan with melted fat on high heat. Fry the meat quickly until golden brown... Salt the meat to taste. Mix the fried meat with cracklings and heat everything up.

Put the polenta on a cutting board and knead it with a layer of 3 cm. Cut out the circles with a glass. Cut the tomatoes into thick slices. Put a circle of tomato on the polenta circle.

Put crumbled mozzarella or any soft cheese, fried meat with cracklings on top of the tomato. Decorate with herbs and serve a snack to the table. Bon Appetit!

Recipe 9: sweet polenta with raisins and dried apricots

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

Bring the milk to a boil, add cereal, sugar, salt, cook on low heat under a lid for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.


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


Grease the rectangular shape with butter.

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


Allow polenta to cool, then cut into slices, pour over 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 cook puff casserole polenta with vegetables. This lean vegan dish is 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 a photo step by step below.

  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • about 2 liters of water,
  • 1 carrot,
  • half an onion,
  • half sweet pepper,
  • a few cauliflower inflorescences,
  • 2 zucchini,
  • a slice of eggplant,
  • 4 tablespoons tomatoes in juice or diluted tomato paste,
  • 1 tbsp olive oil,
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp paprika.

Polenta corn flour is of two types: classic and fast food... Boil the polenta until tender, as indicated on the package. The flour is poured into boiling salted water and boiled, stirring, until it thickens.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pour the finished polenta (half) into a rectangular dish covered with baking paper. The polenta should be hot, fresh from the fire. So it is still liquid and it is convenient to work with it.

Put it quickly on polenta vegetable filling and level with a spoon.

Pour the second half of the hot polenta onto the vegetables, completely covering the filling with it. We level the surface, if necessary. You can drizzle olive oil on the vegetable puff casserole.

,

Looking for a classic polenta recipe? Well, I think to myself: if you come here, it means that you are interested, and it is in the classics, and not in what is written on your packaging. So, my dears, I have to disappoint you. Right from the start. Take a look at this photo. Do you have such a boiler? No? If not, then you will not be able to get the classic polenta, no matter what recipe you use to cook it. Because the classic polenta is made in a thick-walled copper pot over a wood fire. Basta! (By the way, "basta" is Italian.)

On a wood fire - this does not mean "on the 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 stove in your country house, then you have a chance to cook classic polenta. The only snag is the thick-walled copper boiler. Both wall thickness and material are very important. Copper is the most thermally conductive material used in cookware. It heats up very quickly and cools down just as quickly when you remove the dishes from the heat. Well, the thickness of the boiler makes it possible to use it even in extreme heat, at those temperatures at which modern thin copper cookware with alloying simply deforms and changes color. In short, a pure copper old thick-walled boiler - THIS IS THE THING !!! But they are no longer produced. Ours is hereditary. But I don't have a wood stove, so even I can't show you the recipe for classic polenta if I have the right boiler. I haven't scared you off yet, will you continue reading?

Polenta is an old recipe, but not that from hoary antiquity. Corn came to Europe after the discovery of America, and in warmer countries, it seriously pushed other, more whimsical and less productive cereals. In Italy, accordingly, polenta replaced the pulse: porridge made from ground spelled, millet, barley and spelled, known since the days of Ancient Rome. In short, the groats have changed, but the recipe has remained. So the technology for making polenta is a hell of a lot of years old, and in our refined conditions of the 21st century, making it in a classic form is very difficult.

I have also tried classic polenta - exactly once in my life, my father-in-law cooked when my parents came to get acquainted. The father-in-law's name was Giuseppe Manyago, he was from South Tyrol, whose inhabitants from the plains are called "polenta eaters" by Italians from the plains. In short, I know the recipe, I can tell it, but I cannot cook it, because it is simply impossible to install a domed copper boiler on a ceramic electric stove! I cook polenta in a flat-bottomed cast-iron 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 grind sizes. In Italy, you should take the coarse and medium grind, but, apart from the local mills, I have never seen this anywhere else, so in Germany I make it from corn grits and corn flour. Using two calibers gives a very different consistency to the dish than with homogeneous flour. But cooking requires a bit more complex calculations than from one type of flour.

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

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 in the aggregate. That is, 12 cups of water, 2 cups of fine cornmeal, and 1 cup of coarse cornmeal. A cup, a bowl, a mug - it doesn't matter anymore, do you understand? 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, a bowl of large-caliber cereal is poured into boiling salted water. Brew for about 5 minutes.

After that, pour in 2 cups of corn flour in a thin stream with very thorough stirring. When they get into the water, polenta begins to spit wildly, you can get seriously burned. Much worse than just boiling water, because it is a sticky substance. Therefore, for about a minute or two, it makes sense to close the polenta pot with a lid.

When you hear that the spitting has stopped, the lid can be removed. Then there are two cooking strategies: over low heat, almost without stirring (a homogeneous polenta is obtained) and over high heat with stirring (it turns out to be dense, with a coarser and more heterogeneous structure). The first is easier to prepare and more beautiful, the second is more laborious, but, according to our family, tastes better.

Today is the birthday of the senior representative of our branch of the Manyago family, and the festive dinner was held with us, so I prepared their favorite version: laborious and scary in appearance. In short, what you see with me is not a cooking defect, but a special honor for the birthday man. 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 edge to center and in a circle over high heat for 20 minutes. Those. it turns out that I, in fact, beat it up. Parallel stripes on the walls are scapula marks. 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 intense fire allows layers of denser "skin" to form, which I constantly mix into the liquid inner layers. Stirring stops when the polenta is actually moved away from the boiler wall in this way. It should form into a single dense lump. The fact that it is heterogeneous is considered to be just a special chic in our country. I'll cook a 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 the polenta from the stove, let it cool for 5-10 minutes. It makes sense to pierce its edges with a spatula to the very bottom, so that they can easily be separated from the walls. Next, a round served board is pressed to the polenta. Not a plate at all! If you want a classic, then you need an absolutely flat wooden surface, such plates simply do not exist. I'll show you why a little further.

The polenta cauldron is turned over, 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, it will have to be ripped off and thrown away, because the boiler is cast iron and there is a black fry on the crust, and the crust itself is very tough 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 on the board; it is ripped off and consumed for breakfast with milk. Well, by at least, our Giuseppe did so.

Should it be roughened? Classical polenta - yes, it should be. This gives it a special scent - along with the smell of smoke from a wood-burning stove.

Now watch carefully. This is a serving of a classic polenta, right now - kondo - there is no kondo: on a wooden board and with a string. The rope should either be tied to two sticks, or there are loops at the ends that you can stick your fingers through. A flat, wide spoon is also desirable - transfer the polenta layers to the eaters' plates.

The fact is that the classic polenta is not cut with a knife, but with a thread, and it is cut from the bottom up, not from top to bottom. The thread is brought under the polenta from below by the thickness of the piece, pulled and pulled up at both ends. That is why a board is needed, not a plate: plates always have sides, which, when the classic way slicing get in the way.

In general, sorry for such a recipe with the volume of "War and Peace", but the classic polenta with all the bells and whistles is a dish that requires a lot of explanation. Because of the bells and whistles and due to the fact that all the utensils for its preparation in modern kitchens are simply not used. For example, I do this polenta only for family holidays. This is a little bit of a show. But these are also traditions. Our son is just as interested in cutting polenta with a string, as it was interesting for his father and uncles to do in childhood.

Maybe you can still cook polenta according to the recipe that you have on the package? It's probably easier.


Irina Kamshilina

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

Content

The Italian corn porridge that has gained popularity around the world is called polenta. Having gained recognition in northern Italy, the dish became popular in Slovenia, Serbia, Moldova, etc. Polenta is universal: it is served with cheese, meat, berries, 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

Polenta, a dish of Italian cuisine, is a porridge made from crushed corn, 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, Italian cantons in Switzerland. In other countries, polenta has a different name: for Slovenia it is "zhgantsy", for Dalmatia - "pulenta", for Serbia - "cacamak", for Moldova - "mamalyga".

Polenta recipes

Initially, groats were added to a deep large copper cauldron without refueling, served as food for the poor population of Italy. Later, improved recipes appeared with the addition of mushrooms (champignons, 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, salted, sweet, creamy, hard or soft.

Classic recipe

  • Time: 50 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 6 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 105.9 kcal.
  • Purpose: for breakfast, afternoon tea, for children.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

The classic Italian polenta made from corn grits is a thick porridge that is 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 pluses of corn grits include versatility: you can serve it with salt or sugar, cold or hot, it all depends on your taste preferences.

Ingredients:

  • water - 1 liter;
  • coarsely ground corn grits - 250 grams;
  • salt - 1 teaspoon;
  • butter - 50 grams.

Cooking method:

  1. For cooking, you need a pan with thick walls made of copper or cast iron, 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. Boiling water should be salted, add corn grits, stirring with a wooden spoon.
  3. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring constantly. The polenta will begin to separate from the sides and bottom of the pot.
  4. When the mixture turns into homogeneous mass, put it on a cutting board, with a spatula, shape into a square, cool.
  5. Cured polenta can be sliced ​​and served with melted butter on top.

With cheese

  • Time: 1 hour 10 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 368.7 kcal.
  • Purpose: side dish for lunch, dinner.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

Corn polenta with cheeses is perfect for lunch and dinner as a main course or side dish. Serve hot or cold. For a rich flavor, instead of water, use vegetable or meat broth... Cooking does not take long. The hostesses wait longer for the mixture to harden. You can not waste time on this, but immediately divide the porridge in portions. This will not change the taste, but the aesthetic presentation - yes.

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 sides and bottom, add salt, cornmeal. Stir until thick. If desired, grated cheese can be added five minutes before removing the cereal from the heat.
  2. Place the mixture in a greased baking dish and smooth 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 the herbs, thyme and cream cheese... Stir the mixture until smooth.
  4. Put baking paper on a baking sheet, place polenta on it, brush it with a mixture of cheeses. 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.

Milk

  • Time: 30 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 7 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 152 kcal.
  • Purpose: for breakfast.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: medium.

Polenta made from corn flour in milk is soft, creamy and tender. Porridge will delight you with a pleasant taste for breakfast, especially if served with toppings or jam. The set of ingredients is similar to the 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 season with salt. Reduce heat to low, and gently add corn grits.
  2. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring constantly. When the cereal is soft, add the milk and continue cooking. Determine the density of the future dish yourself: if you like thick coarse porridge, then wait for complete thickening, if not, remove it a little earlier.
  3. When the cereal is ready, put sugar and a piece of butter in it, cover with a lid for 5 minutes.
  4. Roll out the finished cereal on a flat surface, cut the figures out of it with a knife or special molds. Next, you should wait until the jewelry has cooled and hardened and pour milk over them.

With mushrooms

  • Time: 50 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 545 kcal.
  • Purpose: dinner, family lunch.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: medium.

Polenta with mushrooms can be enjoyed at a dinner or lunch for the whole family. For this, it is better to use portioned molds or clay pots. For a bright taste, before serving, the dish can be seasoned with chopped parsley, and put on the table various sauces(garlic, tomato). Before placing the mushrooms on top, in the summer you can grill the tortilla, and in the winter in a frying pan.

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;
  • head onions- 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 infuse for 30 minutes. Thinly slice the shiitake mushrooms and champignons after removing the legs and rinsing them.
  2. Place a skillet over medium heat and fry the onions in olive oil.
  3. Remove the bow. Add the butter and oil to the remaining olive oil in the skillet. 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 dried mushrooms, leave 175 ml. Rinse the mushrooms and chop.
  5. Add the onion back to the pan, add the dried mushrooms to it, pour in the liquid from under them. Remove from heat after one minute after simmering.
  6. Cook the porridge: add cornmeal to boiling salty water. Stir and cook until thick. Put the cereals in a mold, let cool.
  7. Cut the porridge into pieces, each with a mushroom stew and marjoram. Garnish with oregano.

In a multicooker

  • Time: 70 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 2 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 105.9 kcal.
  • Purpose: breakfast, lunch.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

In a multicooker classic porridge Polenta is easier and easier to cook than over a fire. Corn tortilla can be cooked for breakfast, served with dinner instead of bread, as 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: cooking 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 cornmeal in cold water, then dry it.
  2. Put the porridge in the multicooker bowl, fill it with water. Add salt to taste and a small piece of butter to the cereal. Close the lid of the multicooker and cook in the appropriate mode for 50 minutes until tender.
  3. After the end of the cooking process, sprinkle the surface of the dense porridge with grated Parmesan. Close the lid and bake the porridge in the desired mode for 10 minutes.
  4. Serve with fresh vegetables.

With pumpkin

  • Time: 40 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 133 kcal.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

Polenta with pumpkin can be enjoyed by children for breakfast or served as a dessert for an afternoon snack. In winter, porridge will help fill the body with vitamins and nutrients. Bright orange color cheers up, "warms" and mentally brings the onset of spring closer. The groats are soft, tender, 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, salt.
  2. While stirring, bring the porridge to a boil over medium heat.
  3. Reduce the heat to a minimum, cook the porridge, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
  4. Add pumpkin puree with sage, cook for 15 minutes, until the porridge begins to move away from the walls.
  5. Remove porridge from heat, add parmesan and butter.
  6. Serve hot.

With spinach

  • Time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 6 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 361 kcal.
  • Purpose: lunch, dinner.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

The spinach polenta recipe comes in two flavors: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. For the second option, you'll find bacon on the ingredient list, but you can do without it. The dish can be served hot or cold for lunch or dinner. Prepare polenta in advance in molds, and when the time comes to serve lunch or dinner to the table, just 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 onions are soft.
  2. Add the chopped spinach to the skillet and stir for 30 seconds to loosen the spinach. Remove ingredients from heat.
  3. Cook polenta.
  4. While the porridge is cooking, mix the eggs and milk. Whisk the ingredients.
  5. Add grated cheese, bacon, onion and spinach to the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Grease a baking dish with butter, lay out the porridge, fill it with the mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese 10 minutes before cooking, 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.
  • Servings Per Container: 4 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 330 kcal.
  • Purpose: lunch, dinner.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: difficult.

Shrimp polenta is truly a royal dish. It can be served not only to family dinner or dinner. Shrimp porridge will be served on the table for a holiday, for example, as an independent hot dish for a birthday, anniversary or Christmas. Cooking porridge will take a little time and culinary skills. But the guests will be satisfied with the unusual taste and 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 shrimps - 30 pieces;
  • champignons - 6 pieces;
  • garlic - 1 clove;
  • lemons - 1 piece;
  • chicken bouillon- 100 ml;
  • Tabasco sauce - 1 teaspoon;
  • green onions - 4 stems;
  • salt to taste;
  • black pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

  1. Bring four glasses of water to a gentle boil. Add cornmeal, stirring water, cook for half an hour.
  2. Stir in grated cheddar, parmesan, 20 grams of butter. Season with salt and pepper, cover.
  3. Preheat a skillet, add bacon in small cubes, fry for 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Leave the melted fat in the pan.
  4. Salt and pepper the shrimps, put in the pan. Roast 2 minutes, during which time turn over once. Transfer to a serving dish.
  5. Throw thinly sliced ​​mushrooms into the pan. Simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally, add chopped garlic, cook for another minute. Pour in the broth, let the liquid boil down by a third.
  6. Put back the shrimp, add a tablespoon lemon juice, butter, tabasco sauce. Cook for another minute.
  7. Arrange food on plates, top with shrimp. Sprinkle each serving with bacon and chopped onions.

Polenta sweet

  • Time: 30 minutes.
  • Servings Per Container: 2 Persons.
  • Caloric content: 170 kcal.
  • Purpose: breakfast, afternoon tea.
  • Cuisine: Italian.
  • Difficulty: easy.

You can diversify the taste of Italian polenta not only with cheese, spinach, shrimp or bacon. If you are a lover of sweets, you can make a dish with berries and fruits, season the porridge with sugar instead of salt, or peanut butter instead of Tabasco sauce. Beneficial features polenta replaces the famous morning oatmeal. Sweet taste will please 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 cornmeal into a saucepan, add water, stirring occasionally, bring to a boil.
  2. Add chopped apple, raisins. Continue cooking for 7-8 minutes.
  3. Reduce heat to low, add peanut butter, stir porridge.
  4. Place in a bowl, garnish with berries and cinnamon.

How and with what is better to serve

Polenta can be served as a main course or as a side dish; baked or fried, it is a bread substitute. Porridge is combined with complex culinary delights (Burgundy beef, fish dishes e.g. cod), sauces. Italians are cooking garlic Sause in butter with the addition of herbs (parsley, dill). The Italians serve the dish like this: they warm up pieces of porridge, decorate it with feta cubes and slices of pickled cucumbers.

Video

Found a mistake in the text? Select it, press Ctrl + Enter and we'll fix it!

Discuss

Polenta - what is it: recipes from corn grits

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 grains, and also a dish of Italian cuisine, in fact, polenta is 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 an exquisite 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. This is 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 the fried chicken fillet with the mushrooms, 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 flavor, which is perfect for meat, mushrooms, fish and vegetables. Salty, sweet, hot, cold, spicy, polenta will be equally tasty in any form, no matter how you serve it. It is worth cooking polenta at least once to make sure whether 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!