When we started getting into cooking, polenta sounded very glamorous. We found a box labeled “polenta” at the store and managed to create what was inside into a mess of tasteless glue.

Since then, we’ve learned that polenta is just a fancy word for Italian cornmeal mush, you can whip it up with cornmeal and water (no special boxes needed), and, more importantly, it tastes good too! It’s a good alternative to pasta, and you can serve all sorts of things with it – sautéed greens, mushrooms, vegetable ragout, and so forth. You also let it set and serve it hardened, but we haven’t mastered that technique yet.

At its simplest all you need is cornmeal, water, and a bit of butter, but adding cheese really enhances the flavor too.

Basic Polenta
Inspired by Jack Bishop in The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

About 4 servings

What You Need
One cup corn meal
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper

1  Bring four cups water to boil in a medium sauce pan. When the water boils, whisk in the one cup corn meal in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Continue whisking until the polenta begins to thicken (around 1 to 2 minutes). Add around 1 tsp salt.

2  Reduce the heat so that the polenta bubbles slowly. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until the cornmeal loses its raw flavor (taste every so often to check).

3  When the polenta is complete, turn off the heat and add 1 to 2 tbsp butter and more salt and pepper. You can cover it to keep it warm before serving. If the polenta becomes too thick, you can stir in a bit of milk or water to loosen it up.

*Alternative: For even more flavor, you can stir in some cheese with the butter in Step 3. For example, add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, or both 1/2 cup Parmesan and 1/2 cup ricotta.