Side · Northern Italy
Polenta
Cornmeal simmered soft, finished with butter and Parmesan.
About the dish
Polenta is a porridge of cornmeal, long a staple of northern Italy. Before maize arrived from the Americas in the 1500s, Italians made similar porridges from other grains, such as farro and millet, and from chestnut flour, and the name stayed with the dish.
The cornmeal goes into simmering salted water, or a mix of water, milk or stock, in a slow stream while the cook whisks, which prevents lumps. Then it cooks gently, stirred often, until the grains soften and the porridge pulls away from the sides of the pot. Coarse traditional meal can take forty minutes or more; quick-cooking polenta takes a few minutes. Roughly four or five parts liquid to one part cornmeal gives a soft polenta.
Finished with butter and grated Parmesan, it turns rich and savory over the natural sweetness of the corn. Soft polenta is served like mashed potatoes, under braised meat, mushrooms or a ragù. Spread in a pan and cooled, it sets firm enough to slice, grill or fry.
Written from general cooking knowledge, as background on a dish from the game’s recipe book. It is not a tested recipe.
The flavors it leans on
Polenta in Night Kitchen
In the game, Polenta is a side in the recipe book. A plate is named Polenta when it holds these cards and is cooked with exactly this technique, with at most one extra ingredient.
Ingredients
- Cornmeal
- Butter
- Parmesan
Technique
- Simmer
How those cards taste
Cooked from just these cards for an average ticket, before tonight’s mood and quirks, it would please Gus (2 stars) most.
“Cornmeal cooked to velvet with butter and Parmesan. The Venetians eat it with everything. So should we.”
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