I canned a bunch of tomato sauce this past summer. I love eating it on pasta, but you know, variety is nice. I think baked polenta is a good alternative. I like to jazz up my polenta with herbs like rosemary and frozen veggies like spinach, corn, and squash. Sounds fancy, huh? Restaurants seem to think so which is funny because polenta was originally peasant food. Oh well.
Ingredients:
6 c. water
2 c. coarse yellow cornmeal
veggie bouillon
herbs (rosemary)
frozen veggies (spinach, corn, squash)
olive oil
In a medium sized pot, bring the water, bouillon, and miscellaneous herbs to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and slowly pour in the cornmeal. Stir constantly for about 20 minutes. Add in the frozen veggies. Pour the creamy polenta mix into an oiled 9x13 baking pan and refrigerate for a few hours. Slice up the chilled polenta. We like triangles. Brush the top of the polenta with oil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F or until golden brown.
The recipe we used for this focaccia said to use a stand mixer on medium for 20 minutes to get the wet dough to come together. We don't have a stand mixer so instead we took turns stirring vigorously for 40 minutes. After all of that early morning arm exercise, we swore we wouldn't bother making focaccia again. Then this beauty came out of the oven... In a way, it's like how mothers go through incredible birthing pains and then somehow decide to do it again.
