Polenta Fries and Beans

Polenta is amazing. Polenta has blown my mind. It is probably my new favorite ingredient in anything at all. It is so easy, it is so cheap, it is so wonderful. I could go on.

I used to think it came in those tube packages at the grocery store, but they lied. It's a big fat lie. Polenta comes from something called CORN MEAL, and it's found near flour or breadcrumbs in a pouch like flour. It's used for making cornbread but polenta - isn't anything corn tasting at all, really. It tastes like pasta to me, pasta dumplings. And all you do is add water, really. Like I said, cheapest, easiest meal ever. Oh, the big caveat being you have to wait hours for it to cool. But if you think ahead, it's no problem really.

Ways to make Polenta:
1. Under pasta sauce and baked
2. Rolled in to balls and fried golden
3. Cut in to strips and fried like fries (see picture)
4. Baked as a loaf and layered with cheese
5. Mixed with herbs, whatever your heart desires
6. Sauteed in butter but not too crispy
7. Mushy like grits (so says the packaging, I've never actually made this one)
8. Stuffed into tomatoes
9. Cut into pancake patties and fried
10. Etc.....

I have gone crazy searching polenta on pinterest. I think I have made it under pasta, as dumplings, as a sliced loaf, and tonight as fries. Four times I've made polenta, and I still have more left in the one package.

Directions:
1. Add 1 cup corn meal to 2 cups of water in saucepan.
2. Boil and stir vigorously. Don't walk away!
3. Turn down heat from high to medium-low.
4. Stir until thick and difficult to stir without sticking. If you choose, add some cheese and herbs (basil and parsley).
5. Transfer to dish of your choice (pie pan for baking, loaf pan for slicing, shallow brownie pan for slicing in to fries, etc.). Or if making dumpling balls, roll them up and cook right away.
6. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight.
7. Slice it up, or shape it how you'd like. If baking, you don't need to slice obviously.
8. Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes or pan-fry/sautee in butter in a frying pan.
9. Top with cheese, salt, and pepper. Or pasta sauce, or accompanied by beans (as in picture). Whatever your heart desires. Polenta is so amazing. :)